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O F T » E \\ * N^cs^O)/^ 



HISTORY OF THE CITY OF DAYTON. 



BY M A S K E I. L E . CUR W E N 



SBCON;D EDITION. 



n A Y r ON: 

PLBLISUKD BY J.UIES 0D;ELL, JR. 
18dO. 



F^Q^ 



By tr»iisft« 

;3T 7 19« 



N. Sl'LLlVAN: Bv/UK S: JOB I'RI.N'JER: WA MAIN STREET. 




A I) \ E R T I S E M E X T 



i'lii-" liitle vuluinc urijrinally appeared, in July last, a> an in- 
tn»(luctiijii to Odell's Dayton Directory &. Business Advkrti- 
.-^i!;. The gentleman, on whom the Publisher depended tor wri- 
tiiijj the History of D.iyton, h.aving been prevented by other 
eni^agenients from fiilliUing his desi'jn, application was made to 
me a few ilaysbefore ihat work w as put to pre,ss,to I'urnii-h if. 1 had 
not iheicfoie leisure to write such a history as I could have 
wishe-.-!. but I thought that this sketch mi?ht be of service to 
^ome future local historian. I consulted the AVcstcrn Spy 
of Cincinnati, 1799—1804: IJurnel's Notes; Perkins's ^^'e!^tern 
Annals; Atwater's History of Oliio; Howe's Ohio Historical Col- 
lections; the newspapers generally; tombstones; advertisemen is; 
rfcitals in deeds and wills; the public records; CiiTvseV Sketch of 
the History of Ohio; the local and general laws; the City Ordi- 
nances: Pul)lic Documents; the American Pioneor;Inday's Trav- 
••!>: Carver's Travels, &.C. &.C. I also dei ived much inforu^aiiou 
Iroin the testimony of eyewitnesses, Mhich I wrote down imuie- 
diately. 

The publisher wi>hed to issue a second edition of this part ot 
iliat volume, and though it was so hastily written that the prin- 
ters were at work on the fust sheets of the manuscript, before ! 
h.\d collected the materials for the last. I thousrht it was of too 



IV. 

little importance to induce me to withhold my consent. The 
modesty of its pretensions will disarm any rigorous criticism on 
its obvious defects, which no one, I am sure, sees more plainly 
than I do. The occasion called for something of the kind, and 
[ did the best I could, under the circumstances. 

51. E. C. 
Steele's Buildings, Main Street, 
August, 1850x 




SKETCH OF THE IIIST^cE^OF DAYTON 



At the commenceinent of the present century, a few log cabins, 
on the south bank of the Miami, hemmed in on all sides by the 
I)rimeval forests, where Indian hunters pursued their game as 
free as do the Camanches on the plains of New Mexico, alone 
showed the spot, where now stands one of the most beaut ifu^ 
cities of Ohio. Its rapid growth, in the midst of profound peace 
and almost unbroken prosperity, is marked by few of those inci- 
dents which the dignity of history thinks worthy of notice. I 
propose therefore only, in this very hasty sketch, to rescue from 
oblivion the memory of a few former incidents, which may in- 
terest our {»wn citizens, and which, with those who witnessed 
them, are rapidly being lost to us. 

A few of those witnesses yet remain, and it was not found too 
late to collect from them, authentic testimony concerning the 
earliest settlement. Many of the details will undoubtedly ap- 
pear quite trivial to strangers; but, like the mementoes ot those 
wh(»m we have lost, or the records of our family history, when 
1 ho.-:e who traced their lines are gone, these little things connect- 
ed with the history of our Mother City, may still, without undue 
weakness, be interesting to us. And though the successive gen- 
erations of mankinil have generally profited but little by the ex- 
perience of the pa>t. tiiere may perhaps be something in our histo- 
ry, whicii may furnish some guide for our future course ; unless, 
indeed, our knowledge of it shall serve only, like the stern lights 
ofa ship, to illumine our past career. 

The local annalist, when detailing the little things of his im- 
mediate neighborhood, may safely presume that his readers are 
familiar with the general histtuy of the country, t)ie minuti.T of 



b HISTORY OF 

which he thinks worth recording. It will be sufticient, there- 
fore, to state, in very general terms, that the first English set- 
tlement, within the limits of Ohio, was a trading liouse called 
Pickawillany, at the mouth of Lorimie's Creek, in Shelby Coun- 
ty, sixteen miles north-west of Sidney. It was destroyed by 
the French and Indians, in 1752. From that period, down to as 
late as 1782, the Indian tribes, roaming through the Miami val- 
ley, were complete masters of the country. They made frequent 
incursions into Kentucky, and were not entirely checked, till 
they suffered their great defeat by Wayne, on the banks of the 
Maumee, August 20th, 1794. The Delawares, Miamies, Shaw- 
anese, Tawas, and Wyandots, brought from 1,500 to 1,600 war- 
riors into that engagement; and though the treaty of Greenville, 
August 3d, 1795, relieved the settlers fi'om apprehensions of im- 
meiliate danger, numerous bodies of Indians still remained with- 
in a few marches of their settlements. After the peace of 1763, 
the Miamies moved northward and westward from the Great 
Miami River, and a body of about 4,000 Shawanese, who, in less 
than a century, had migrated from the Atlantic shores of Florida 
to this vicinity, established themselves at Piqua, and made that 
point their great head quarters in Ohio. A thousand Kentucki- 
ans, under Gen. Clark, in 1782, surprised and destroyed their 
village on the site of West Boston, Clark County, upon which 
they removed to the neighborhood of St. Marys and Wapaugh- 
koneta, where they were residing when Dayton was settled.— 
The Delawares were in the same vicinity. Fort St. Clair, near 
Eaton, was the military post on the west, in the immediate vicin- 
ity of which, a bloody battle took place between our troops un- 
der Major Adair, and a large body of Indians, on the 6th of 
November, 1792. In 1793, Wayne represented the enemy as 
numerous, determined, and desperate. The country was then a 
dense wilderness, containing ravines, thickets, morasses and 
watercourses, Vvhich greatly impeded the movements of an army. 
When marching from Cincinnati to Greenville, in October. 1793, 
in addition to the usual videttes, he ordered a strong guard to 
precede the army, which was so arranged that the line might be 
quickly formed, by a single manoeuvre. 

As late as 1799, the movementsof these tribes were watched 
with anxious interest at Cincinnati, and exaggerated reports of 
their warlike preparations alarmed the inhabitants. At that pe- 



DAYTOW. 7 

riod, the country west of liorc bad generally hern deserted by the 
Indians, excei)t l)y occasional hunters, and Dayton wa» thenth« 
frontier. Old Chillicoihe, a Shawnee town, three miles north of 
Xenia, on the J^ittle Miami, was the nearest settlement in that 
direction. To the n. k. was Chribb'jsi Station, in the forks of 
Mad River, built in the spring of ITOd; Mercer's Station, near 
the present site of Fairfield, Clark County; Demint's Station, 
now Sprin^rJield; and McPherson's Station, in the vicinity ot 
Urbana. Northward were a scttlementof two or three families 
at Livingston, a towM laid out probably by J. C. Symmes, at tlie 
mouth of Honey Creek, Miami County; Staunton, a small set- 
tlement near Troy; a few people at Piqua, and Lorimie's Store, 
Ifi miles N. w. from Sidney — the extreme frontier in that di- 
rection. Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Franklin, were small villa- 
ges. In 1804, the whole population between Dayton and Frank- 
lin did not ex'ceed six or eight tamilies, and the only house upon 
the road between the two points, was a log cabin, about 12 by 14 
feet square, on the site of Miamisburg. When a cabin w\is built, 
the fii-St care was to cut down every tree within rifle shot, that 
was large enough to aftbrd shelter for an Indian to fire upon the 
inmates — a practice wliich gave rise to the prevailing habit of this 
country of destroying all those forest trees near dwellings, which 
in older settled countries are carefull-y preserved from the wood- 
man's axe. 

Clark's expedition against Piqua made the Miami country! 
known to the Kentuckians. The army had forded Mad River 
near its mouth, and undoubtedly oarri<^'{ home exaggerated ac- 
counts of the fertility of its rich bottom lands. Six years after, 
the point at which Dayton stands was selected by some gentlemen, 
who designed laying out a town by the name of Venice. The 
Indian troubles, however, frustrated the plan, and we escaped 
being Venitians. Wayne's Treaty, at Greenville, promised se- 
curity against the barbarians, and seventeen days after it wa» 
signed, A.igust i20th, 1795. Arthur St, Clair, then Clovernor of 
the Territory, Jonathan Dayton, late a Senator from New Jersey, 
General James Wilkinson, then in Wayne'sarmy, and Col. Israel 
Ludlow from Long Hill, Morris County, N. J., contracted with 
John Cleve Symmes for the purchase and settlement of the 
sevenih and eighth ranges between Mad River and the Little 
Miami. 



8 HISTORY or • 

Two parties of surveyors, consisting, among others, of Daniel 
C. Cooper, also of Long Hill, N. J., John Dunlap and Benjamin 
Van Cleve, left Cincinnati on Monday, the 2lst of September, 
1795, to run the boundary of the new purchase. Their horses 
were stolen by Indians, in the night, but they reached the mouth 
of Mad River on Sunday the 27th, and found six Wyandot In- 
dians In camp there. Both parties were at first alarmed at meet- 
ing, but they soon exchanged presents, and parted on friendly 
terms. A party of Kentuckians accompanied Cooper, to view 
the country. On Monday they met up the Miami bottom a mile 
or two above the mouth of Mad River, but found the vines 8o 
thick and the weeds so high, that they could not see the land, and 
became discouraged and returned to Kentucky. Dunlap's party 
remained till the 4th of October, and then returned to Cincin- 
nati, Mr. Cooper having preceded them. 

On the first of November, the party went again to Mad River, 
for the purpose of laying out the town, which was done on 
Wednesday, November 4th, by Israel liudlow. It was called 
Dayton, from the name of one of the proprietors. Arrangements 
were made for its settlement in the ensuing spring, and donation 
lota, distributed by lot, with other privileges, were offered to 
actual settlers. Forty-six persons entered into engagements to 
remeve from Cincinnati to Dayton, but only nineteen fulfilled 
their engagements. Two or three settlers arrived in the course 
of the winter. Those from Cincinnati left that place on JSIonday, 
March 21st, 1796. Mrs. McClure, a widow, and the family of 
Samuel Thompson, were taken up the Miami, in a large perogue, 
by William Gahagan, a young Irishman, who was one of the par- 
ty, and Benjamin Van Cleve, then about four or five-and-twenty, 
son of Mrs. Thompson, by a former marriage, and father of our 
townsman, J. W. Van Cleve. They reached Dayton on Friday, 
April 1st. 

Some sketch of the history of these families may be interest- 
ing. 

Samdel Thompson was originally from western Pennsylvania. 
He removed at an early day, to Cincinnati, where he married 
Mrs. Van Cleve, the mother of Benjamin and William, whose 
father was killed in that town, by Indians, June 1, 1791. The 
issue of this marriage was a daughter, who married Robert Steele 
and who is still living.- 



OaYTOJC. 9 

Hkx/amin Van Clk.vr. wa.^, at that time, about 25 years of 
agi'. He was educated lor a surveyor. On the orsrani/.ation of 
the Court here, he was appaiiited clerk and held that ollice for 
many years. He was the iirst post-master in Dayton, and was 
till his death one of the most prominent citi/.ens of the place. 
His "Memoranda," some of which have been published in the 
Ajneri:.aT» Pioneer, embody almost all the documentary history 
of tlic early settlement, that is now in existence. He married 
Mary NN'hitinjr, by whom he had several children. She die<l 
December i28th, KSIO; and on the 10th of March, 181:2, he was 
united to Mary Templeton of Champaign County. There were 
no children of this marriage. He died in 1821. 

William Van Cleve, who was a few years younger than Ben- 
jamin, was a farmer. In the war of 181'2, he commanded the 
Dayton Riflemen, who marched in June of that year, from this 
place, fur the protection of the frontier, with the title of Cap- 
tain. His first wife was Etlie "NVestfall, who was the mothcrof 
all his children. By his second and third wives, he had no chil- 
dren. He died in 1826. 

James McChre, John McCli'Re, and Thomas McClure, were 
l)rothers, the eldest of whom was not then orer twenty-five y«arB 
of age. They are believed to have been from western Pennsyl- 
vania. Their father was among the killed at St. Clair's defeat; 
and his widow, their mother, came with her sons to Dayton, 
They afterwards moveil to Honey Creek, Miami County, O. 
Thomas is now residing in Dayton. 

Damkt. Ferkim.l was from western Virginia. He was then a 
married man. over fifty years of age. He left a daughter, whosMj 
descendants now reside near Honey Creek. 

William Hamer's place of nativity is unknown. He was prob- 
ably from Maryland ; as he is known to have had relatives in 
that state. At the time of his removal to D.iytoti, he was between 
forty and fifty yeais of age, and married. He resided on the 
farm now owned by iheTait family, on the Spriiiglield Turnpike, 
three miles fiom town. He was well known as the local preach- 
er of the Methodist |)ersua9ion. The principal settlements of 
those attached to that form of worship being upon Mad River, 
service was usually held at this house. His descendants were 
Solomon, then a lad of fifteen or sixteen, who left this vicinity in 
IHl;! ; ThoiiuDi, who married here, and died November 30, 18'20, 



10 Klf5T0RY OF 

at the age of SO; yancy, who married William Uahagan, by 
whom she had several children; Murp, who married William 
Loury, who resides three miles north of Dayton ; and Sarah, 
who married Loury, who lived upoii Mad River. 

William Gah-a-can was of Irish parentage, and came to Cin- 
cinnati from Pittsburgh, where he had last resided. He was, at 
that time, a young- unmarried man. ?Ie first married Nancy 
Hamer, and after her death, Mrs. Tennery, by whom he had no 
children. He died at Troy, O., about 1845. 

Of SoLOMox Goss and Joii\ Davis, no information could be 
collected. They were not residing here in 1799. 

Thomas Davis was a native of Wales, but removed to Dayton 
Iroin Pennsylvania. He was married when he came here, and a 
numerous family survived him, Ths eldest son now resides at 
New Paris, Preble County, (). Thomas Davis lived at the bluffs, 
on the Shroy(5r farm, two miles south of town, where he died more 
iiian thirty years since. 

Abraham Gkassmirk was a weaver, of German descent, be- 
tween 20 and 30 years of age, and unmarried. He removed from 
Dayton to Honey Creek about 1802-S. 

The local authorities d) nr)t agree whither Doroiig-Ji's christian 
name was John or .(Imos. He was a married man, between twen- 
ty and thirty years of age, and by occupation a miller. He own- 
ed the property at Kneisley's Mill, on Mad River, five miles x. 
K. of Dayton. He left a family, which is now thought to be ex- 
tinct. 

William Chenoweth was probably from Kentucky. He was 
married and had a fiimily. At the time of his settlement here, 
he was about thirty-five years of age. By trade, he was a black- 
«mith, bat does not seem to have followed his business ; for in 
September, 1799, there was no blacksmith v.-ithin twenty miles 
of Dayton, though, to use the language of that time, " the coun- 
try was thickly settled and emigration to it rapid! " Chenoweth 
removed to (ireen County about 1803, or perhaps earlier. 

Jamks Morris was from Pennsylvania. He came as a soldier, 
under Hamer, to Ohio, where he turned his attention to farming. 
He was twice married, but died childless. 

George Newcom, the only survivor of the original settlers of 
Dayton, is a native of Ireland. He removed to America in 1775, 
and settled in Delaware, whence he removed to western Pent}- 



DAYTOK. 11 

sylrania, where he married Mary Henderson, by whom he had 
two children. Jane, the widow of the Kite Nathaniel Wilson of" 
this city. aTid wlio. it is helii'ved, was the fust child born in Day 
t«)n ; and ./(>/?n, who died about ten years since, leavinjr descend- 
ants. C(»l. Newconi, as he is usually called, was SherilV of the 
county, State Senator, niember of the Assembly, and enjoys the 
respect of the whole conununity. 

WiLMAM Newcom, his younger brother, was at that time about 
twenty years of age. He afterwards married a Kentucky lady, 
Charlotte Nolan, who bore him a son, Robert, now living. After 
his death, she married John Baker, whom she survived. Sh« i» 
now the wife of Henry Row. 

Horses and cattle were brought by the first settlers, and they 
raised a fine crop of corn that year. Pigs were first raised by 
I). C. Cooper, in 1799. There were, at that time, no !«heep 
her<? ; but they were introduced soon after. Flour was obtained 
in (Cincinnati, at $9,0(') per barrel, and the transportation cost 
!3»5,0() more. 

Symmes being unable to complete his payments, the land re- 
verted to the government; but Daniel C. Cooper, partly by the 
acquisition of pre-eini)tion rights, and partly by agreement with 
the settlers, became the titular proprietor of the town. He laid 
it out again upon the same plan originally adopted by St. Claii- 
and his associates, in 1795. It was bounded on the north by 
Water Street; east by Mill Street to Third; thence west to St. 
Clair Street ; thence south to Fifth Street; thence west to Jeft'er- 
son; thence south to South, or as it has since been called. Sixth 
Street; thence along South Street to Ludlow; thence north to 
Fifth; thence west to Wilkinson; and thence north to Water 
Street. The streets running northward are 16^ W. of N., and 
are crossed by those ruiming eastward at right angles. The 
l)lat was divided into 280 building lots, lt)0 feet wide and CtX) 
feet deep; and ample reservations were made for markets, 
schools, churches, and burial grounds. The streets were named 
after the original proprietors. Dayton being a Federalist, a kind 
of compromise was made, and one street was named Jefl'erson. 
At the same time he laid out fifly-four out-lots, of ten acre* 
each, which lie east of the Canal Basin, from Third Street to 
beyond Richard Street, and extend from ^^'ayne. Vnnce. .lark- 



12 HISTORY OF 

son Streets and Maiden Lane, to the present line of the Corpo- 
ration. 

Let us now go back and view Dayton as it was half a century 
ago. 

Approaching from the south, the last cabin has been left ten 
miles behind us. A long and fatiguing journey on horseback, 
over a bad road cut through the woods, has brought us to the 
close of day. As we descend the hill the woods open. A basin, 
nearly circular in form, lies in full view, the eastern rim of 
which is crowned with a dense forest, shutting out the view in 
that direction, while the light mist of a summer evening, rising 
slowly from the water,, extending from the extreme north-east 
and sweeping round to the west and south, in a semicircle, 
shows 

'' Where dark Miami rolls its waves along." 

The ground in front, except where to the right, a narrow strip 
of prairie sweeps round the foot ot the hills, is thickly covered 
with hazle bushes, above which a. few scattered and stunted oaks 
spread their scraggy arms in the evening sun. Immediately in 
front, a narrow wagon road, cut out of the bushes, extends 
northward to the river, now about a mile distant. Advancing 
three-quarters of a mile, we come to a log cabin on the road- 
side, where, as did General Fielding Lowry a few years after, 
we enquire the distance to Dayton. The owner, John Welsh, 
a substantial farmer, directs us down the road, about a quarter 
of a mile, to " Newcom's Tavern," on the river bank, the cen- 
tre of Dayton. Welsh's house was on the south-east corner of 
Main and Fifth streets. Passing it, the traveller came, at the 
distance of two squares, to a gully, nearly five feet deep, cross- 
ing the road diagonally, and hiddt'n from view, on either side, 
by tJiick copses of hazle bushes. It extended from near the 
corner of First and Wilkinson streets, crossing Main at Third 
street, and was lost in the prairie near Lowry street. It served 
as a natural drain for the ground on which the town was laid 
out, but at that season of the year was dry, and crossed 
witliout difficulty. 

Could we have then looked down the vista of coming years to 
1850, we should have seen ourselves as we rose from the bottom 
of the ravine to the level of the road, in the midst of a busy city. 



DAYTON. 13 

On the left rises a majestic pile of Dayton marble, the most ele- 
gant and costly Court House in Ohio; while on the right, the stir 
of the arrival antl departure of coaches, the Dayton Bank, the 
Telegraph office, three printing offices, gas lights, and the rich 
display of goods, indicate the extent of travel and of business, 
the progress of the arts, and the comforts and luxury of the cit- 
izens. Could such a virion have been then before us, we should 
have wakened to the reality of the scene around, with as broad 
a stare, and as incredulous of our identity as did Rip Van Win- 
kle, after his slumber of twenty years in the mountains ; or aa 
did Abon Hasson,the Wag, when on waking, he found himself in 
the bed chamber, and attended with the honors due only to the 
sacred person of the Caliph Haroun Alraschid. Dayton is 
found to be a scattered settlement of half a ddzen houses, ex- 
tending along the river bank from Jeft'erson to Wilkinson 
streets. 

The Great Miami, which here flows nearly due west, sweeps 
along the northern bouiulary of the village. In the imagination 
ot those beyond the mountains, its dark and sullcii waters were 
only rendered more hideous by the war canoes of cannibals, who 
scented their prey like bloodhounds, and from whose merciless 
cruelty death was a happy escape. We smile to read in Camp- 
bell's verse, that palm trees flourish and tigers prowl along the 
shores of Lake Erie ; but not more strangely has a poet of our 
own, blending in his fancy the features of the country with the 
character of the race that possessed it, darkened our bright and 
lucid stream with the hues of almost Stygian blackness. 

The following diagram gives a correct representation of the 
topography of the place, on the first of April, 1799, three years 
after its settlement. The outline represents the limits of the 
town plat as originally laid out, and above detailed. A nar- 
row wagon road was cut out the whole length of Main Street, 
and Water Street was openetl to its present width. From 
the eastern end of this street, namely, at Mill v^treet, a wag- 
on road extended up Mad River l)y Ilamei's farm to De- 
nunt's and Mercer's Stations. Into this road, a little beyoml 
the east line of the town, came a road running from Arnett's 
house [viii] along where First Street now is. Another road, 
cros sing Mad River where the channel is now almost filled up, 
nearly opposite Webster Street, led to Livingston, Staunton, 

8 



14 



HISTORY OF 



Vf 




and Piqua. The Cincinnati road, through Franklin and Hamil- 
ton, coming into Main Street, has been mentioned. These 
were the only roads at that period. 

Topography of Daytou-April, 1799. 

On the diagram, [i] rep- 
resents Col. Newcom's 
Tavern, Avhich i s still 
standing, on the s. w. 
corner of Main and Wa- 
ter streets. It was built 
of hewn logs, but has 
since been weather-board- 
ed. 

II. George Westfall's 
cabin, on the s. e. corner 
of Main St. and the alley 
between First and Water 
Streets. 

III. Paul D. Butler's, 
on Water St., near Main, 
on the present foundation 
of the Old Brewery, 

IV. This cabin, on the s.e . corner of Water and Jefferson 
Streets, had been occupied by D, C Cooper and Jacob Brown, 
afterwards the celebrated General Brown, who distinguished 
himself in the war of 1812, who kept bachelor's hall there. Jt 
was unoccupied in April, 1799, 

V. Samuel Thompson's, on Water Street, where stands Sinesy 
Johnson's, the second house west of St, Clair Street, 

VI. Mrs. McClure, mother of James McClure, lived ^n this 
cabin, on the s. w . corner of Water and Mill Streets. 

VII. John Williams, a farmer, occupied the cabin on the s. e. 
corner of Water and Wilkinson Streets. [Marked vi by mis- 
take of the engraver on the diagram.] 

viii. Thomas Arnett, a shoemaker, on the n, w. corner of 
First and Ludlow Streets. 

IX. John Welsh, s. e. corner of Fifth and Main Streets. 
These log cabins constituted Davton. All the rest of the 



iX 



DAYTON. 16 

town plat was covered with hazlc bushes, and occasional wild 
cherry arid scrub oak trees. On the east, the forest extended 
down to the present Dayton Company's Hydraulic Basin; to the 
south-east, as far as Lowry Street; aiul on the south, they 
crowned the summits of the hills. Down to as late as 1822, 
there was no dwelling or clearing- east of Mill Street, except a 
log cabin, on the north side of Third Street, between Beckel 
and High Streets. North of the Miami, the forests were thick 
and reached to tlic river bank. Deer and game of all kinds 
were abundant. The cry of wolves was frequently heard in the 
evening, and panthers were occasionally seen, and committed 
depredations on the property of the settlers. The tangled maze 
of weeds and vines, which covered the rich bottom lands north 
of olil Mad River, has been already alluded to. West of Wil- 
kinson St., was a huge corn field, within one common inclosure, 
where, as in that golilcn age of the world, when men lodged un- 
der trees and fed upsn acorns, every man was at liberty to till 
as much of the soil as he chose. 

Captain Imlay, in his Travels, in 1782, described the Arca- 
dian blessedness of the first settlements, in the most glowing 
language. The metaphors of oriental poetry, which seem so ex- 
travagant to us baibarians of the western wilderness, arc cold 
and tame to the high wrought descriptions, which allured the 
young and ardent to brave its dangers and its hardships. One 
would think he was depicting those "dear, lovely bowers of in- 
nocence and ease," whose decay Goldsmith so pathetically la- 
mented in the Deserted Village: 

""The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, 

For talking age, and whispering lovers made. 

How often have I bless'd the cnming day, 

Wheti toil remitting lent its aid to jilay; 

And all the vilhige train. iVoin labor free. 

Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree; 

While many a pastime circled in the >ha«le. 

The young contending as tin- old siirvey'd; 

And many a gambol frolick'd o'er the ground. 

And sleights of art and feats of strength went round." 

Fire hunting, as it was called, was, at that day, a favorite 
amusement. The deer came down to the river bank, in the 
evening, to drink, and sheltered themselves, for the night, under 



16 HISTORY or 

the bushes, which grew along the shore. As soon as they were 
quiet, the hunters in pirogues, paddled slowly up the stream, the 
steersman holding aloft a burning torch of dried hickory bark, 
by the light of which the deer were discovered and fired upon. — 
If the shot was successful, the party landed, skinned the animal, 
hung the carcass upon a tree, to be brought home in the morning, 
and then proceeded to hunt more game. 

Little squads of Indians, in parties of about half a dozen, 
from the vicinity of Wapaughkoneta, usually came every season, 
till about J805-6, to the banks of the Miami, to hunt and trade 
with the white men. They generally encamped on the north 
bank of the river, above Main Street. They were a drunken, 
worthless set, and, wheain liquor, were often noisy and trouble- 
some. The high spirit of an Indian could not brook the lash. 
It was a degredation his sullen and vindicative spirit never for- 
gave. But he submitted to bonds with a good grace ; and when 
Col. Newcom found them troublesome, he sometimes seized, 
bound and confined them in his corn crib. 

In the case of white culprits, before the erection of the log jail 
in the rear of the present Court House, in the summer of 1803, 
a mode of incarceration quite primitive and oriental — a mode 
which the histories of Joseph and Jeremiah have rendered classic, 
and from which the sweet Psalmist of Israel has drawn many of 
his illustrations— was occasionally resorted to. The Colonel, wiio 
enjoyed t!ie honors and emoluments of theshrievality,had an old, 
unwalled well ; "and the pit was empty, there was no water in 
it. " Into this, he " let down " those who broke the peace of the 
State, and there they remained till brought up for trial. 

The navigation of the Miami to Cincinnati, at low stages of 
the water, was then considered dangerous, and it was, in a few 
years, frequently interrupted by mill dams and fish traps. The 
only mode of travelling, off of the water courses, was on horse- 
back. In 1799, a party left Newark, N. J., about the middle of 
November, passed through Reading, Harrisburg and Chambers- 
burgh, Fcnna., to Wheeling, where they embarked on a flat- 
boat, on the Oliio, and reached Cincinnati on New Year's Day. 
More than ten years after, a Dayton merchant, who travelled on 
horseback, accompanied by his wife, a pack horse carrying their 
luggage, and he having their infant child swung round hi» neck 



DAYTOW. IT 

in a nef, and resting ii}M>n a pillow, on the pomm**l b^foro him, 
was a month in going fioni Dayton to Philadelphia. 

From Cincinnati, the early Daytonians hrou2;ht all their flour, 
groceries, store goods, and whisky. Transportation, in 1799, 
which was principally on horseback, was S2.50 per hundred 
weight. The journey took several days. And here it may bo 
interesting to state the Cincinnati prices. In November, 1799, 
Imperial tea was ^'J shillings 6 pence ; Hyson 16."*. lOp.; loaf su- 
gar 4?.; flour 18*. 9/>. per 100 lbs.; wheat 5s.; rye 33.; corn 1». 
\0p. per 100 lbs.; pork 18». 9p.; beef 2'2s. 6p. 

The state of the roads was not the only difliculty attending the 
transportation. The journey often produced emergencies, which 
gave occasion for the exercise of that ready invention, that neces- 
sity proverbially brings forth. On one»occasion, Col. Newc:)m 
was returning alone from Cincinnati, with a load of whisky, 
consisting of two ten gallon kegs, swung across a horse. Night 
overtaking him, he was compelled to camp out. He unloaded 
and tethered the animal, and laid himself down to rest under a 
tree. In the morning when he arose to resume his journey, a se- 
rious difficulty presented itself. To unload had been easy, but 
the weight of the kegs now defied his utmost exertions to laden 
his beast. After repeated failures, a plan suggested itself to 
him, which nothing but the ready wit of an Irishman would have 
discf)vered. The Ncivcomian theorj/, by which one man ic ena- 
ble<l to load two ten-gallon kegs of whisky upon a horse, is to 
take the halter, cast the animal with it, roll the load on him, and 
then assist him to rise. 

Whisky, however, though the solace and elixir of life, was too 
dear, when !Bi'2.50 per 100 lbs. was added to the prinie cost ; and 
hence it soon became an article of home manufacture. The corn, 
that was not wasted in bread stuRs, soon found its way into the 
alembic. In August, 1799, Cooper advertised in the Western 
Spy, at Cincinnati, ottering good encouragement to an experien- 
ced distiller; and, in the fall of that year, he established a dis- 
tillery at tlie Patterson farm, two miles south of Dayton. About 
the samn time, he erected a sawmill and ^'corn-cracker," which 
obtained «// the custom of town, and took toll lron> the Tn»jans 
and Piquods. Cooper at that time, live<l upon the Patterson 
tann, and resided there till 1804. 

As late as 1817, there were but two pleasure carriage** in Day- 



18 HISTORY or 

ton. One was owned by Mr. Cooper, and the other by Mr. H. 
G. Phillips. Everybody who travelled, went on horseback. 
There were, at the close of 1849, ^fifteen hundred pleasure car- 
riages in the county, which were valued for taxation — and hence 
of course below their real value— at $94,000. 

Col. Nevvcom's Tavern, alluded to above, was built in 1798-9. 
The tavern was on the first floor ; and the second was used for 
a store, and, after erection of the county, for a Court Room. It 
was considered a very fine house, at that period. 

In 1800, a general meeting house built of logs, was put up, on 
the north side of Third Street, a little east of Main. It was sur- 
rounde<l by a grave yard, which extended back to the alley, half 
way between Third and Second Streets. Here the bones of such 
of the " forefathers of the hamlet," as escaped the exhuming 
spade of cellar-diggers, repose. The ground — as is the usual fate 
of urban sepulchres, when the rest of the dead interferes with the 
restless activity of the living — is now built over; and perhaps 
some moulder beneath the very spotwhere this sketch, recording 
their fate, is written. 

— "Earth, that nourish'd them, now claims 
Their growth, to be resolved to earth again. " 

The first clergyman, who preached here, was Rev. John 
Thompson of Kentucky, father of the Rev. W. Thompson, the 
distinguished missionary to Palestine, who is now resident near 
Beirout. He was never settled here, but preached several 
times during 1800, and continued to have occasional appoint- 
ments in Dayton, till about 1820. A frame Methodist Meeting 
house, on the site of Wesley Chapel, Third Street near Main, 
was built a few years after. As early as 1799, William Hamer, 
who has been already mentioned, was a local preacher of the 
Methodist persuasion, and he continued to hold meetings at his 
house, on the present Tait farm, for five or six years after that 
period. 

After tlic first proof of this sheet was taken, and just as it was 
ready for the press, I accidently learned that there was informa- 
tion relative (o the early history of the Methodist Church here, 
in the Life of Rev. John Collins, written by Mr. Justice McLean; 
but I was unable to procure a copy. After making many enqui- 
ries about our churches, I. found that no defi»iit<i information 



DAT? ION. ^9 

fould be obtained, without a previous personal examination of 
their records, which I had not the leisure to make. 

In 1800, the first Hat boat that ever navig^ated the Miami from 
Dayton to the Ohio, was built and navigated by David Loury. 
Tlje flat boat trade was carried on from that period till the open- 
ing of the canal in 1829, and in later years became important. 
In April, 1818, 1,700 barrels of flour were shipped from this vi- 
cinity, in that way, for New Orleans. Boats were built and 
launched with the spring flood, and loaded with flour, bacon, and 
whisky, the staple products of the country. The trip to the Ohio 
usually occupied five or six days. In consequence of the river 
having made a new channel, about 1808-9, below Hamilton, 
some care was required, at the Hilling stage of water, to navigate 
through it, and in the spring of 1809, the river was represented 
as dangerous ; but this idea was removed by a successful trip of 
a flat boat belonging to John Compton, which was dispatched 
from Dayton, May 23d, ISOS*^ and arrived safely in the Ohio, a 
few days after. 

In the fall of 1800, Mr. McDougle, of Detroit, brought some 
store goods to Dayton, and opened the first store, in the second 
.story of Col. Newcom's Tavern. 

In 1801, tlie total free male population, over twenty-one years 
!)ld, between the two Miamics, from the present southern line of 
Montgomery and Greene counties, and extending probably as far 
north as Vienna, Springfield, New Carlisle, and the mouth of 
Honey Creek, was three hundred and eighty-two. Calculating 
on the data which the election rctians now furnish, this would 
make the total white population of that district not far from 
1,800 souls. It may now be safely estimated at from 45.000 io 
50,000. West of the Great Miami, there were twenty-eight 
adult males, and east of the Little Miami, less than twenty. 
The very mode oT enumeration, regarding, as it did, only those 
who were capable of bearing arms, shows the state Oi the coun- 
try. 

On the 24th of March, 1803, the legislature erected the territo- 
ry north of the present^imits of Warren and Cutler counties, 
into a new county, which they called Monl^ommj. It included 
the wjiole of the present countioa of Preble, Miami, Darke, 
•Shelby, Mercer, Van Wert, Paulding, Defiance, and, with the 
exception of their eastern range <»f townships, Allen, Putnanif 



so HISTORY OF 

and Henry, and nearly half of Lake County. This cowiprisea a 
territory of about 6,300 square miles— nearly equal in extent t© 
the kingdom of Saxony, and only 1000 square miles less than 
the whole state of New Jersy. Tiie temporary seat of justice 
for this territory was fixed, by law, '* at the house of George 
Newcuin, in the town of Dayton." This act weit into force on 
the first of May, 1803. (3 Chase's Statutes, 2100.; 

The first court held in the new county, was '"at the house of 
George Newcum," on the n. e. corner of Main and Water 
Streets, which, as has been stated, is still standing. The Court 
commenced on the morning of July 27, 1803, and adjourned on 
the evening of the same day, there being no business to transact 
before it. There were present in that upper room, representing 
the dignity of the state of Ohio, the Honorable Francis Dunlevy, 
President of the First Judicial Circuit, then in the prime of 
manhood; Benjamin Archer of Centreville, Isaac Spinning, who 
resided on the fiirm four miles east of Dayton, where his son 
Charles now lives, and John Evving of Washington township, 
late from Pennsylvania, Esquires, Associate Judges; Benjamin 
Van Cleve, who acted as Clerk pro tempore; G3orge Newcom, 
Sheriff'; James Miller, Coroner; Daniel Symmes of Cincinnati, 
Prosecutor pro tempore for the State ; and about the whole white 
male population of the county, out-siders, who came to have a 
frolic and enjoy the fun. 

The seco.id session of the Court was held on Tuesday, Novem- 
ber 22d 1803, when the first case was tried. It was an indict- 
ment against Peter Sunderland, for an assault and battery on Ben- 
jamin Scott, "then being in the peace of God, and of our State." 
The defendant pleaded guilty, and was fined $6 and the costs. — 
At the san»e term, were two criminal cases, which were tried, 
and four civil suits, which were all discontinued; and the Court 
adjourned the next day. 

In 1804, Cornelias Westfall, who was afterwards for many 
years Clerk of the Miami Common Pleas, a Kentuckian, estab- 
lished the first school in Dayton. He was succeeded in 1805, by 
Swansey Whiting, a Pennsylvanian from the vicinity of Pitts- 
burgli, who had been well educated and who afterwards became 
a physician. In the sameyear, 1804, Mr. Cooper built an '*ele- 
i'ant mansion" of hewn logs, lined inside, instead of plastering, 
with cherry boards, after the manner of the ancient oriental 



DAYTON. 



31 



monarchs, on the s. w. corner of Ludlow and First Streets, on 
the site of the present residence of J. D. Phillips. 

Though in ihe midst of a lin\cstone country, lime was little 
used in building. Col. Newcom was perhaps the first who used 
mortar fnr chinking. A country lad happened to be in town 
while they were fixing his cabin, and on his return home, he told 
his folks that Col. N. was plastering his house inside w'lih Jlour. 
The incident .shows how little lime was used. When it was 
needed, stones were collected from the river bed, a huge pile of 
logs was built, the st(»nes piled upon it, and a fire being placed 
beneath, it answered the purpose of a kiln. 

In March, 1805, there was a great flood upon the Miami. The 
water covered the floors of houses on the west side of Main 
Street, between First and Second, which are now a little above 
the curbing. In consequence of this flood, Mr. Cooper propos- 
ed to vacate the town plat, and lay outanew town upon the same 
plan on the hill to the eastward, where every citizen should have 
a lot of the same dimensions, and in the same relative situation, 
as he owned in the town. This plan would most probably have 
been adopted, but for the opposition of two prominent citizens, 
who insisted that Cooper should pay them for their improve- 
ments, which they would abandon by a removal. This he was 
neither willing, nor able to do. 

A post oftice was established in Dayton, in 1804 or 5, and B. 
Van Cleve appointed Post Master. He held the place until his 
death, in 1821. The ottice was at the s. e. corner of First and 
St. Clair Streets, where Mr. Van Cleve resided. No more ap- 
propriate place will occur than this, tor information relative to 
the Post Onice in this place. On the death of Mr. Van Cleve, 
George S Houston was appointed Post Master, and he also held 
the oflice till his death. This estimable man was a son of Wil- 
liam Churchill Houston, who was formerly Professor of Mathe- 
matics in Princeton College, and tluring the revolutionary war a 
distinguished cili/.en of New Jersey. His eldest sister having 
married in Dayton, George came here about 1810. In 1820, he 
was electetl Recorder of Diyton, and in December of that year 
became the editor and proprietor of the Ohio Watchman, of 
which the Dayton Journal is a continuation, at which post he con 
tinued till November, 182G. He died after a long illness, April 
89, 1831, leaving two children, who are both living. The sub 
sequent post masters were 



23 HISTORY OF 

David Cathcart, from 1831 to 1843. 

James Brooks, (executive appointment,) 6 montlis, 

Thomas Blair, from 1843 to 1845. 

J. W. McCorkle, from 1845 to 1849. 

Adam Speice, from 1849, till the present time. 

Dayton, in 1804, was on the mail route from Cincinnati to De- 
troit, by the way of Urbana. The mail Avas carried through 
here by a post rider once in two weeks going, and as often return- 
ing. In 18'20, the eastern mail by way of Chillicothe, arrived 
and departed every Sunday evening ; that by way of Columbus 
arrived every Sunday evening and departed every Thursday at 
noon. The Cincinnati mail arrived on Wednesday even- 
ing and departed on Saturday evening. The northern mail 
by Piqua connected with it, at this point, and its arrival 
and departure were regulated accordingly. The western mail 
went by way of Salisbury, arriving every Tuesday evening and 
departing every Sunday evening. The present arrangement 
will be found under its proper head in this volume. 

On the 12th of February, 1805, the town of Dayton was incor- 
porated by the legislature. 

In the same month was established the Dayton Library Socie- 
ty, a joint stock company, of which Rev. William Robertson, 
Dr. John Elliot, and William Miller were appointed directors; 
B, Van Cleve, librarian; and John Folkerth, treasurer. Though 
frequent appeals were made to the liberality of the citizeas to 
support so creditable an institution, the library was very limited, 
and in a few years the Society gi-adually dissolved. 

In 1804, or 5, the " Old Saw Mill, " so frequently referred to 
in the earlier conveyances, on First Street, (marked d on J. W. 
Van Cleve's Map, 1839,) was built by D. C. Cooper. A grist 
mill was soon after erected near the head of Mill Street, and in 
July, 1809, a carding machine was added to the establishment. — 
These latter mills were destroyed by fire, June 20th, 1820; and, 
on their site. Cooper's executors erected the old mill now stand- 
ing there, and which JMcCreight has lately transferred to his 
glowing canvass. 

The first brick building erected in Dayton was a store built in 
1806 by D. C. Cooper and John Compton, who were then part- 
ners, on lot No. 38, on the n. e. corner of Main and First 
Streets. It was one story high. The second brick store, built 



DAYTON. 't3 

the same year, was that of Jamos Steele and Joseph Pierce, on 

the 8. E. corner of Main and First Streets, which is still stand- 
in g as originally built. 

The old brick court house, which was removed about three 
years since from the n. w. corner of Main and Third Streets, 
was erected one story high, in the summer of 1806. It was the 
usual place for holding all public meetings, and until the build- 
ing of the First Presbyterian Church, public worship was fre- 
quently held (here. 

In July. 1806, Mr. Crane, from Lebanon, O., the father of the 
present clerk of Auglaize Common Pleas, commenced a news- 
paper in Dayton and issued a few numbers ; but being attacked 
by fever and ague, he determined to return to Lebanon, and the 
newspaper was abandoned. There are no files of it in town, and 
even its name has been forgotten. The limits, which the pub- 
lisher allows to this sketch, forbid any detailed history of the 
press of this city. I therefore draw merely an outline, and refer 
those who wish to go into' the details to my "Sketch of the Day- 
ton Newspapers," in the Dayton BuUetin of March 8th, IStli. 
April 3(1, 5lh, 12th, and ITth, 1850, which may be found in the 
Dayton Tiibrary. 

Newspapers in Dayton. 

7'Af Dayton Repertory — size 8 by \2h inches, published by 
William M'Clure and George Smith; weekly, at $2 a year: con- 
tinued from September 18, 1808 to December 4th, 1809. 

The Ohio Centinel—%VLQ 11 by 19 inches, published by Isaac 
fJ. linrnet ; weekly, at $2 a year; continued from May 3. 1810. 
to May 19, 1813. 

Thr. Ohio /irpublican, a continuation of the Centinel — pub- 
lished by Isaac G. Burnet and James Lodge, from October 3, 
1814, to November 20, 1816; and by James Lodge alone from 
that time till October 9, 1816, when it was discontinued : week- 
ly, a( $2 a year. 

Thr Ohio f fate h man— sv/.o 12 by 20 inches; published by 
Ilob.M-t J. Skinner; weekly, at $2 a year, till December 18, 1820. 
December 25, 1820 (he name was changed to the Dayton frnUh- 
tnan and Farmers' and Mechanics' Journal. From (hat date till 
November 21st, 1826, it was principally edited by George 8. 
Houston, and owned successively by IIous(ou and Skinner, 



34 HISTORY OF 

Houston and Hays, and Hays and Lindsly, till it was purchased 

by William Campbell, in April, 1826. 

The Miami Republican and Dayton Advertiser — size 11 by 
21 inches; edited and published by George B. Holt; weekly, at 
$2 a year; continued from September 2, 1823, till September 7, 
1826. 

In April, 1826, William Campbell purchased the Watchman 
and Repnblican, and in November, 1826, united them under the 
title of tlie Ohio National Journal and Montgomery and Bay- 
ton Advertiser, which in January, 1828, was contracted into the 
Dayton Journal and Advertiser, the title which it now bears. 
The Editors have been Messrs. Jeplha Regans, P. P. Lowe, 
John W. Van Cleve, \V. F. Comly, D. W. hidings; Mr. Com- 
ly is the present editor. The Journal is now a daily and a week- 
ly paper, and at present is the organ of the Whig party. 

The Dayton Fepublican— edited by William L. Helfenstein, 
published by E. Lindsley ; weekly, at $2 a year; published from 
January 5tli, 1830, till, I believe, 1834. 

77ie Dayton IVhig and Miami Democrat — published in 1833 
and 1834, by Dutton & Maloy. 

Ths Democratic Herald. 

The Western Empire — a continuation of the Herald — from 
1842 till the present time; published successively by Smith & 
Munn, Vallandigham & Munn, and Fitch & Ramsey. It is the 
organ of the Democratic party, and is well conducted. It is a 
daily. 

The Journal had attempted a daily paper about 184 — , but had 
not found it successful ; and in 1846, N. M. Guild & Co. started 
the Daily Daytonian, which was edited by John A. Collins. It 
lived only about a year. 

The Dayton Transcript — established in January, 1841. It is 
now a daily, triweekly, and weekly paper, conducted by Wm. 
C. Howells & Co. 

The Dayton Tri-Weekly Bulletin— svaq 15 by 21 inches; 
published successively by Wilson & Decker, J. C. Decker, 
Decker & Thomas, and J. C. Decker— edited by M E. Cur- 
wen; continued from September 1,1848, to April 17, 1850. — 
Tri-weekly, at $3 a year. 

Das Detitche /owrnrt/— published by John Bittman; a weekly 
Democratic paper, established in 1849. 



DAYTON. 25 

We return now from this digression to resume our narra- 
tive. 

In 1807, Hugh McCollom built the first brick tavern in Day- 
ton, on the s. w. corner of Main and Second Streets, which is 
still standing (July, 1850.) 

On the first of March, in the same year, the counties of Miami 
and Darke were created tvithin the limits of Montgomery, the 
latter still extending, beyond them, to the northern line of the 
State, and continuing to do so till 1812. In the following year, 
Preble County was erected out of the s. w. corner of Mont- 
gomery, and Eaton made the county seat. The first private 
brick residence here, was built the same year (1808,) by Henry 
Brown, father of Henry L. and of Judge R. P. Brown, on the 
N. w. corner of Main Street and the alley between Second and 
Third Streets. It is now the residence of Judge Brown. The 
Dayton Academy was incorporated the same year. They sub- 
sequently erected the building on the rear of lot 140, en St. 
Clair Street, where the Academy was held till 1831, when the 
property was sold, and the institution removed to the s. w. 
corner of Fourth and Wilkinson Streets, where it now is. 

In 1809, the manufacture of sickles was commenced in Day- 
ton ; a dye-house and a nail factory established ; the town Coun- 
cil passed an ordinance requiring all adult males to work two 
days each year upon the streets ; and the contract for carrying 
the mail 07ice a week from Dayton to Urbana, by a post-rider, 
was let out to bidders upon proposals. That was then the only 
mail north or east. 

During the winter and spring which followed, the Miami was 
lower than had ever before been known, and flat boats were 
from from two to three weeks in reaching the Ohio. At this 
time, there were two ferries, with regular ferrymen in attend- 
ance, across the Miami — one at the foot of First Street, on the 
road leading to Rench's Mill, on the site of Salem, and which 
continued to be used till January, 1819, when the bridge at 
Bridge Street was finished, — and the othor^ at the present ford- 
ing at the foot of Fourth Street, on the road leading to Gunck- 
le's Mill, now Germantown. 

During the summer of 1810, tlie Indians were encamped at 
Greenville; many had migrated westward, but in 1820 they still 
numbered 2,400 souls in Ohio; and 559 dwelt at Wapaughko- 



26 HISTORY OF 

neta. The population of the State was 230,849; of Dayton, 583. 
Cincinnati contained 388 houses, 2,320 inliabitants, had 31 
looms and 230 spinning wheels, and manufactured 6,480 yards 
of cloth annually. The revenue of Montgomery County for 
1809-10 was, 
From permits and licences, $ 110 64 

From State and County Taxes, 1,533 51 

1,644 15 
The expenditures amounted to 1,338 26 

Leaving in the Treasury $ 305 89 

The population of the County was 7,722. 

The income, arising from taxation 4}lone, now (1850) amounts 
to more than ninety thousand dollars. 

In November of this year, Col. R. Patterson established a 
fulling mill, on his farm, two miles south of Dayton. It was 
destroyed by fire, in 182 — . 

The ordinance requiring pavings to be made, at this time, 
shows that the town laid along Water Street, from Main to Mill 
Street, on the south side of First Street from Ludlow to St. 
Clair, and on Main from Water to Third Streets. 

The year 1811 was rendered memorable by two events not 
likely soon to be forgotten. In October, the " New Orleans," 
the first steamboat on the western waters, left Pittsburgh ; and 
in Decembier, New Madrid was destroyed by an earthquake, the 
shocks of which were felt in Dayton, and kept the inhabitants 
in constant alarm for several days. The first, on the morning 
of the 16th, between two and three o'clock, was so severe as to 
arouse almost every person in town. Some left their houses in 
affright, and all were terrified at the unusual phenomenon. The 
horses and cattle were equally alarmed, and the fowls left their 
roosts in great consternation. There were more than forty 
shocks between the morning of the 16th and the evening of the 
21st. Perkins has noticed it in the Western Annals (519) and 
it is described in the American Pioneer, (I, 129,) but the best 
description I have seen, is in the Cincinnati Liberty Hall, a 
newspaper of that period, and in the Ohio Centinel of January 
23, 1812, a file of which is in the Dayton Library. Severe 
shocks were also felt on the 23d and 27th of January, 1812. — 
They agitated the houses considerably, and articles suspended 
in stores were kept in motion about a minute. 



DAYTON. -i' 

It may here be mentioned, thougli somewhat out of its regular 
order, that on the i2rth of June, 1815, the most violent tornado 
ever known in Ohio, passed through this county, about eight 
miles nordi of Dayton. 

In February, 181'2, the First Presbyterian Church was incor- 
porated. The congregation had previou-!y loaned $500 to the 
county, in consideration of which the Commissioners allowed 
them the use of the Court House as a place for public worship, 
until they erected a small brick church on the site of their pres- 
ent location. 

The aggressions of Great Britiaa upon the neutral rights of 
this country, and particularly tiieir encouragement of Indian 
barbarities on our north-western frontier, are well known as 
matters of public history. As early as December, 1811, it was 
debated in the House of Representatives, whether it was not 
necessary to invade Canada, in the following spring, before the 
ice broke up, and, by seizing that province, secure the north- 
western frontier against the hostility of the savages. Gov. Hull 
of Michigan repeatedly pressed this subject upon the attention 
of Government, but his suggestions were disregarded. Moved 
probably by a private letter addressed by Gen. Armstrong to the 
the Secretary of War, January 2, 1812, government early in the 
spring, gave orders for raising troops in Ohio, to join the army 
at Detroit. Gen. Edmund Munger of this county was accord- 
ingly ordered, in April, 1812, to raise a company in Dayton. 
Preble and Miami Counties being threatened by Indians, it was 
thought unadvisable to draw men from that quarter. The bat- 
talion met on Adam's Prairie, near the mouth of Hole's Creek, 
five miles south of Dayton, on the 16th of April. 

A company of United States Rangers, raised, 'in the vicinity, un- 
der Capt. Perry, received, a few days after, orders to march, 
and on the 2r'th left Dayton for Fort Larimie. On the 6th of 
May, Gov. Meigs arrived in town, to superintend the organi/.a- 
tion of the militia in person. The citizens welcomed him by a 
salute of eighteen guns, and in the afternoon he reviewed the 
troops; twelve companies being in camp here. Dayton was 
made the rendc/.vous for the milidaof the State, destined for De- 
troit. The Indians in the nieanwhile, were enraging the troops 
by the occasional munlers whicli they committed in the vicinity 
of Greenville, and along the line of the frontier. Soon after hi-. 



28 HISTORY OF 

arrival, Gov. Meigs dispatched Gen. Munger, with a small num- 
ber of the Dayton troop of horse, to enquire into the situation of 
the frontier settlements. They returned on the 10th with infor- 
mation that the Prophet was within seventy miles of Greenville, 
and contemplated advancing. A company-of riflemen was im- 
mediately ordered to march to Greenville, and another to Piqua, 
to protect the frontier inhabitants, who were flying in all direc- 
tions. It was supposed that not less than one hundred families 
had fled from Miami and Darke Counties, on account of the hos- 
tile conduct of the Indians. On the 8th the Shawanee Chiefs* 
went over from Wapaughkoneta to Piqua, to hold a council with 
Col . Johnson, in which they made great professions of friendship. 
The Col. believed them; but the inhabitants generally did not. — 
On the 14th, fourteen hundred troops, principally volunteers^ 
were encamped in this place, under the command of Gen. Gano 
and Gen. Lewis Cass. Meigs, in the meanwhile, was making* 
every effort to furnish the army with suitable stores, and on the 
7th, issued his proclamation, dated at Head Quarters, Day- 
ton, appealing to the patriotism of the citizens of Ohio, and 
asking each family to sell at least one blanket, as the army was 
destitute, and none could be had in the stores. By the 20th, the 
number of troops had increased to about 1,500, which were divi- 
ded into three regiments, under the command of Cols. Cass^ 
McArthur, and Findlay. On that day, Gov. Hull issued his 
proclamation, dated at the head quarters of the army on the 
northern frontier, to the chiefs, sachems and warriors of the na- 
tions of Ottawas, Chipawas, Wiandots, Miamies, Delawares, 
Munsees, and such of the Shawanese as resided in the state of 
Ohio, and the territory of Michigan, declaring his determination; 
to offer them war or peace, and threatening the severest punish- 
ment his powerful hand could inflict, if they persisted in choos- 
ing the former. A copy of this speecli was dispatched, with in- 
terpreters, to each tribe ; and the army prepared to follow it up 
with decided measures. On the 26th, the Governor ordered 
('apt. Wm. Van Cleve's company of Dayton Rifles to march to 
the frontier, on the west of the Miami, under the direction of CoK 
Jerome Holt. On the 25th, Brig. Gen, Hull assumed the com- 
mand of the army, which was now stationed at Camp Meigs, on 
the western bank ot Mad River, three miles from town. Cols, 
Findlay and Cass, with their detachments, were encamped in 



DAYTON. 



20 



the prairie three miles from Dayton, and Col, McArthur's regi- 
ment was placed in the rear of the town. On the following day. 
Cieneral Hull took up his quarters at Camp Meigs and hoisted 
the American standard. As it was raising, the troops formed a 
hollow square round it and expressed their determination not to 
surrender it, but with their lives. Col. Sloan, with a troop of 
horse from Cincinnati, joined them on the Srth. The prepara- 
tions being all completed, the army broke up their quarters at 
Camp Meigs, on the first of June, and took up their line of 
march to Detroit, by the way of Urbana, which place they left 
on the 15th of the same month. They reached the banks of the 
Maumee on the 30th of June, having marched, on their way, for 
forty miles through a swamp, knee deep at every step. On 
the 10th of July, Gov. Meigs, writing from Chillicothe, direct- 
ed Gen. Munger .to discharge the militia in his brigade, as their 
services were no longer needed. 

Col. Johnson, early in the summer, called a grand council of 
all the Indian tribes east of the Mississippi and north of the 
Ohio, to meet at Piqua, on the 15th of August; but only some 
250 Shawanese from Wapaughkoneta attended, and nothing im- 
portant was done. 

Hull surrendered Detroit on the 16th of August. The news 
reached Dayton on Saturday the22d, and excited the utmost 
astonishment and consternation. The Indians, who had assem- 
bled at the council at Piqua, were still in that vicinity, and there 
were public stores there amounting to upwards of $40,000. A 
handbill was immediately issued calling on every able-bodied 
man in the county, who could furnish a firelock, to meet at 
Dayton, on the next day, for the purpose of marching immedi- 
ately to the frontier. On Sunday morning by seven o'clock, a 
company was raised, organi/.ed and completely equipped, under 
the command of Capt. James Steele, consisting of seventy men, 
who marched in a few hours to Piqua. During the course of the 
<lay, seven other companies assembled from the country, and 
Capt. Caldwell's troop of horse and Capt.. Johnston's rifle com- 
pany arrived from Warren County. On Monday, the troop of 
horse, and Major George Adams's battallion of o41 men left 
town for the frontier. Two companies were left, subject to the 
Governor's order. Several other c'ompanies passed through town 
on Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Gen. Whiteman, 

3* 



30 HISTORY OF 

of Greene County, had nearly the whole of his Brigade in motion, 
at the same time. TheGoTernor, then at Urbana, entrusted the 
defence of Piqua to Gen. Munger, and ordered the public stores 
to be removed to Dayton. Capt. Steele's company advanced as 
far as St. Marys, where they erected block houses for the de- 
fence of that place. 

The country was now thoroughly aroused, and troops were 
rapidly pushed forward to resist the expected attack of the ene- 
my. On the Slst of August, Col. Wells, with from 300 to 400 
regulars, and Capt. Garrard, with a volunteer troop of horse, 
from Bourbon County, Ky., reached town, and were joined on 
the following day by Brig. Gen. Payne, with three regiments of 
Kentucky militia, comprising a force of 1,800 men. Five other 
Kentucky regiments were then on their march. Gov, W. H. 
Harrison arrived on the 1st of September, and immediately pro- 
ceeded to Piqua, where, on the 2d, he issued his proclamation, 
calling for any number of volunteers who chose to follow his 
standard. On the 9th, he marched from St. Marys, with his 
army, nearly 40OO strong, to relieve Fort Wayne, then invested 
by the Indians. He reached that fort on the 12th, the enemy 
flying before him in all directions, without waiting the chances 
of a battle. 

After having relieved Fort Wayne and destroyed the Indian 
villages in that vicinity. Gen. Harrison returned to St. Marys, 
to make preparations for the campaign against Canada. While 
there, on the 29th of September, he issued a card, presenting his 
compliments to the Ladies of Dayton and its neighborhood, and 
solicited their assistance in making shirts for his soldiers, many 
of whom were almost destitute. With a zeal and promptitude 
worthy of all honor, they replied by sending him, in less than 
twenty days, eighteen hundred shirts for the use of the army, 
the materials liaving been furnished from the Indian department. 

In December, great exertions were made to forward provisions 
to the army. Col. Patterson, the forage master, advertised for 
fifty ox sleds and fifty horse sleds, for that purpose ; and the 
deputy commissary general gave notice that the public stores 
must be forwarded to Lorimie's at all risks, and advised the 
proprietors of dams upon the river to open a passage for his 
boats. 

It was from volunteering, in an expedition ot this kind, td 



DAYTON. 31 

drive an ox team with provisions for the army, in 1812, when 
many shrank back, from (he danger to be encountered, that our 
great orator, then a lad, afterwards acquired the subriquet ot the 
Wagon Boy of Ohio. His bitterest opponents must concede 
that he is tolerably expert in the use of the whip. 

On the 11th of the same month, Lieut. Col. Campbell march- 
ed from Dayton, with a force of about seven hundred strong, 
against the Miami villages, near where Muncietown now is, on 
the Mississinneway, a branch of the Wabash, which they took 
by surprise on the morning of the 17th. A detailed statement 
of this action may be found in the Ohio Centinel of December 
30th, in the Dayton Library. 

While the militia were encamped here awaiting orders, 
Cooper employed them in digging a race from the old saw mill, 
above mentioned, to Sixtli Street, at the intersection of which 
street with the present line of the Basin, he erected a saw mill, 
that stood there till 1847. 

The revenue of the county for 1811-12 was $1748.87, and the 
expenditures, $1968.66. 

In the spring of 1813, immense falls of rain nearly inundated 
thecountiy, and greatly impeded the progress of our troops, but 
Dayti^i still continued to be a thoroughfare for soldiers marching 
to the frontier. This year the Dayton Manufacturing Company 
— the first banking institution in Dayton — was incorporated by 
the Legislature. Joseph Peirce was President and George S. 
Houston, Cashier. In 1831, its name was changed to that of the 
Dayton Bank. Their banking house was in the stone building, 
on the east side of Main street, near Waier. The nominal capi- 
tal was $500,000, but its actual stock never exceeded $175,000. 

The revenue of the county for 1813-14, was $2238.18. 

In October, 1814, Philip Guuckle laid out Germantown. 

In April, 1814, the Female Bible and Charitable Society of 
Dayton was founded by Mrs. Henry Brown, Mrs. Col. Patter- 
son, Mrs. Eliz.a Phillips, Mrs. Joseph II. Crane, Mrs. Henrietta 
Peirce, Mrs. James Steele, and Mesdames Welsh, Cottam, 
Reid, King, Hanna, and Spinning. 

On the 4th of July, of this year, the first market house, on 
Secontl Street between Main and Jefterson Streets, was opened; 
and Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 4 to 10 A. M. appointed 
the times for markets. Our present midnight markets, which 



3*^ HISTORY OF 

tend to limit the supply of marketables to the immediate vicini- 
ty, are the invention of a later period. 

The steady increase of the County is shown by its increasing 
revenue, which, for the year 1814-15, was $3,280.51. 

On the second of June, 1818, the " Cincinnati and Dayton 
Mail Stage," owned by John H. Piatt of C, and D. C. Cooper, 
commenced running between these two points. Leaving the 
Queen City on Tuesday at 5 A. M., and passing through 
Springfield, Hamilton, Middletown and Franklin, passengers 
arrived at Dayton on Wednesday evening. Returning, they 
left Dayton on Friday, at 5 A. M., and reached Cincinnati on 
Saturday evening. The fare was eight cents a mile, with an al- 
lowance of 14 lbs. of baggage. 

, In the summer of 1818, the Methodist Sunday School Society, 
and the Dayton Sabbath School Association were formed. The 
latter owed its origin to the exertions of Rev. Baekus Wilbur, 
afterwards, for a few weeks, pastor of the First Presbyterian 
Church. He died September 29th, 1818, and his remains now 
lie in the n. w, corner of the old Grave Yard, on Sixth street, 
w^here an inscription, written by Dr. Archibald Alexander of 
Princeton, records his virtues. A sketch of his life may be 
found in the Dayton Watchman of February 18, 1819.* His 
widow, a daughter of Major Ferguson, who was slain while 
gallantly attempting to rally his forces at St. Clair's defeat, af- 
terwards , May 31st, 1825, married Rev. Dr. Matthew Brown, 
President of Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., by whom she 
had a daughter, who is now married and resides in New York. 

The commercial reverses, which disturbed the whole country, 
soon after the close of the war of 1812,. seriously affected Day- 
ton, and from 1820 to 1827, its growth was very trifling. At the 
latter date, the commencement of the Canal to Cincinnati renew- 
ed its prosperity, and its advance has been steady and rapid ever 
since. 

Though its increase and the importance which it has attained 
as one ot the first inland cities of Ohio, are mainly owing to the 
system of internal improvements, by means of canals, it is no 
part of my design to go into any details upon that topic. The 
siibject of canal improvements was first agitated in Ohio, in con- 
sequence of the progress of the Eric Canal, in 1818; and on the 
3d of January, 1822, Micajah T. Williams, of Cincinnati, as 



davton. 33 

Chairman of (he Committee on Internal Improvements, made an 
elaborate report upon the subject, in the Ohio House of Repre- 
sentatives, and introduced a bill, which became a law on the 
3lst of the same month, aufhori/.ing an examination into the 
practicability of connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River by 
means of a canal. The examination was commenced in the 
spring of that year, by Hon. James Geddes, of Onondaga Coun- 
ty, N. Y., and was continued till early in 1825, when the Com- 
missioners determined on the route from Cleveland to Ports- 
mouth, and from Dayton to Cincinnati. The ground was first 
broken near Newark, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1825, in the pres- 
ence of Gov. Morrow, Dk Witt Clinton, the invited guest of 
the State, the executive officers, members of Congress and of the 
Legislature, and an immense concourse of spectators, and amid 
the roar of a hundred cannons. 

From Newark, the Governors and their suit moved westward, 
passing through Lancaster, Columbus, Springfield and Dayton. 
On Saturday, the 9th of July, they were met at Fairfield by 
Capt. Squier's troop of Dayton Horse and escorted to town, 
where they were welcomed at Compton's Inn, on the south-west 
corner of Main and Second Streets, by Hon. Joseph H. Crane, 
who addressed them, in a neat and brief speech, on behalf of a 
vast crowd of citi/.ens. At 4 o'clock, they sat down to an ele- 
gant dinner prepared at Col. Reid's, on Main Street, between 
First and Second, for the occasion, where the ladies and the 
Canal divided the honor of the toasts between them. 

The Dayton and Cincinnati Canal was put under contract 
the same year, and progressed so rapidly that on the 25th of Jan- 
uary, 1829, a canal boat arrived here from Cincinnati. The 
locks at the latter i)lace were not, however, completed till 1834. 
The estimated cost of the canal was S56r,0(X). It was violently 
opposed as a ruinojs and useless expenditure. But the law au- 
thorizing the work had scarcely been passed, before its benefi- 
cial effects, upon this place, began to be seen. Unoccupied 
houses were rented, log cabins were replaced by brick build- 
ings, prices and wages rose, and the demand for laborers in- 
creased. 

Previous to April, 1825, the mail route lay through Chilli- 
cothe. In that month, the route was changed ; and on the Gth 
the first mail, carried in a coach, arrived by way of \Columbus. 



34 HlStOttY OF 

On the 13th, a regular weekly line of stages was established be- 
tween Dayton and Cincinnati, and Dayton and Columbus. — 
Leaving Cincinnati on Monday, at 4 o'clock, A. M., passengers 
arrived here on Tuesday evening at 6 o'clock. In June, stages 
commenced running twice a week between the three places. 

It is instructive occasionally to mark our progress by certain 
data; and none is more sure, under a mild government, than that 
of the revenue. The county revenue, in 1825, was $12'! ; in 
1849, it was $90,000. That of the city, at the former period, 
v.as one lunidred and seventy-tioo dollars — less than one-thirty- 
fifth of the sum now usually expended every year, for tuition 
alone, in four of our public schools. 

The construction of the State canal led very soon after to that 
of the " Basin" along Canal Street, and on the 4th of February, 
1330, the Basin Extension Company was incorporated by the 
Legislature. The object was to draw business through that part 
of the town. The situation of the ground was favorable to the 
work. Fx-om the head of Mill Street, a ravine, from fifteen to 
twenty feet deep, extended to near Fifth Street; the ground fall- 
ing rapidly towards the east from the brow of the hill, along 
Mill Street to the corner of Piatt and Harris; thence to the cor- 
ner of Second and v^t. Clair, and thence along St. Clair to Fifth. 
Tlie old saw mill race, extending from the south-west corner ot 
First and Madison Streets, in almost a direct line, to the inter- 
section of the Basin and Fifth Street, marked the level, from 
which the ground fell towards the west. Through this ravine-, 
the waters of Mad River, breaking through the culvert, in the 
levee near its mouth, in spite of the exertions of men working 
night and day to prevent it, sought, at almost every flood, a 
channel, near the line of the present canal, through which to 
discharge themselves into the Miami below the town. 

Upon President Jackson's election to his second term, a ba"^ 
becue — an ox roasted wliole — was held on the open space east of 
St. Clair Street, and it was then proposed to lay out a Public 
Square there, which was afterwards done. The plat between 
Pratt and Second Streets was laid out by the Council at the 
same time, and the ground rents of it reserved for the improve- 
ment of that Square, There is probably no public ground in the 
country that has so large an income as this. 
That simultaneoiis rising of the people, in 1840, which over- 



DAYTON. 35 

V. helmed the adininistration of Mr. Van Burcn, found nowhere 
in the country a more striking expression than in Dayton. Af- 
ter the lapse often years, it is soberly aflinned by eye-witnesses 
and competent judges, that at the Harrison Convention, held 
here on the tenth of September, of that year, there were present 
(/ hundred thousand people. So dense was the mass that, at an 
early hour, before the head of the procession, ciglit abreast, and 
several squares in length, conducted by Charles Anderson, as- 
sisted by twenty-eight marshals, coidd leave town, hundreds 
and thousands in wagons, on horseback, and afoot, passed on 
ahead, filling the bridges and almost completely blocking up the 
Springfield road, along which Harrison was expected to ap- 
proach, for two miles into the country. So jammed together 
was the mass, that, on reaching town, one could move only as 
'.nother made way for him. The meeting was held on the hill 
east of where the Dayton Hydraulic Company's Basin now is. 
As they approached town along First Street, the scene is repre- 
sented as having been indiscribably grand. Harrison and Met- 
calf, both finely mounted, headed the procession, the dense 
throng that lined the streets, leaving only a narrow space, 
through W'hich they rode, and which closed immediately upon 
their passing. "The hiizzas from grey-headed patriots, as the 
banners borne in the pro«ession passed their dwellings, or the 
balconies where they had stationed themselves; the smiles and 
blessings, and waving 'kerchiefs, of the thousands of fair women 
who filled the front windows of every house; the loud and heart- 
t'elt acknowledgements of their marked courtesy and generous 
hospitality, by the different delegations, sometimes rising the 
same instant from the whole line ; the glimpses, at every turn of 
the eye, of the fluttering folds of some one or more of the six 
hundred and forty-four flags whicli displayed their glorious stars 
and stripes from the tops of the principal houses of every street; 
the soul-stirring music, the smiling heavens, the ever-gleaming 
banners, the emblems and mottoes," added to the intensity of the 
excitement. Every eminence, house top,' and window, was 
thronged with eager spectators, whose acclamations seemed to 
rend the heavens. Second Street, at that time, led through a 
prairie, and the bystanders, by a metaphor, the sublimity ot 
which few but western men can appreciate, likened the excite- 
ment around them, to a mighty sea of fire sweeping over its sur- 



36 HISTORY OP 

face, "gathering and heaving, and rolling upwards, and yet 
higher, till its flames licked the stars and fired the whole heav- 
ens. " The wild enthusiasm that swayed the mighty mass beg- 
gars all description. Men were too full for utterance, and many 
with difficulty suppi'essed their tears. The shoutings of the con- 
course at the Isthmian Games, when a Herald's voice aloud pro- 
claimed THE LIBERTY OF GREECE; and the frantic joy of the 
Hebrews, described by a sacred poet, when, after the oppres- 
sions of seventy years in Babylon, "the Lord turned again the 
captivity of Zion," may have equalled, but could not have sur- 
passed it. " No one that witnessed it," said Col. Todd, " can 
convey to the mind of another even a faint semblance of the 
things he there beheld. The bright and glorious day— the beau- 
tiful and hospitable city — the green-clad and heaven-blessed val- 
ley—the thousand flags, fluttering in every breeze and waving 
from every window — the ten thousand badges and banners, with 
their appropriate devices and patriotic inscriptions — and, more 
than all, the hundred thousand human hearts beating in that 
dense and seething mass of people— are things which those alone 
can properly feel and appreciate, who beheld this grandest spec- 
tacle of Time."* 

The Convention of 1842 was even more numerously attended 
than that of 1840. It is not thought too extravagant to put down 
the number present at 07ie hundred mid tiventy thousand. 

The population of Dayton in 1840, was 6067. 

About a mile south of the city, on the summits of two hills 
overlooking the basin in which it lies, and commanding a fine 
view of the town, is Woodland Cemetery^ the principal burial 
ground of Dayton. The grounds were purchased in 1842, and 
laid off under the direction of J. W. Van Cleve, a gentleman 
to whose "^ taste, skill, and public spirit, our citizens are under 
many obligations. The original forest was retained, and ever- 
greens, and ornamental shrubbery have been carefully cultivated 
to adorn this silent City of the Dead. At the entrance is a 
handsome gateway, and a neat cottage for the porter's lodge. To 
this Cemetery were removed the remains of many, who had been 
buried in the city ; and it is to be hoped that the Council may 
soon see that it is indispensable to the health of the citizens, to 

* For details, see the Dayton Journal of September 15, 1840; 
Cincinnati Gazette, Sept. 12 j National Intelligencer, Sept. 19. 



DAVTON'. 37 

forbid all burials within the limits of the corporation. The 
condition of the urban cemeteries of London has lately drawn the 
attention of men of science to the fact, well known and exten- 
sively practiced on by the secret poisoners of antiquity, that 
there is no poison so insidious in its attack and so destructive of 
life, as \i\ii eflluvia arising from places of interment. 

It had been a favorite plan with Mr. Samuel Steele, in his 
litetime, to extend Steele's race, on the north bank of the Miami, 
across the river, by means of Bridge Street bridge, and by turn- 
ing the whole of the Miami into that channel, obtain an immense 
water power, on this side of the river below town. This was 
talked of for ten years, but for want of capital was never carried 
into execution. In 1845, however, a great accession was made lo 
the water power within tiie limits of the city, by tapping Mad 
River four miles above town, and bringing down its waters by 
means of an iiydraulic canal. The work was executed by H. G. 
Phillips, D. Beckel, J. D. Phillips, and Samuel F. Edgar, wlio 
were, in that year, incorporated iflto a body politic, called the 
Dayton Hydraulic Company. 

On the 24th of June, of the same year, the first canal boat ar- 
rived here from Lake Erie. The amount of business done upon 
this canal may be seen in the following 

Tabular Statement, 

Showing the amount of tolls collected on the Miami Canal and 
the Miami Extension Canal, at the port of Dayton, from IMI 
to 1848, in dollars. 



Miami fanal. 
Miami Ex. f '1. 


1841 . 184.-2 

23,978 x!'2.03n 

3,080 3.243 


1843 1 1844 

■24,181^29,65: 
4.094! 5,852 


1845 1846 1 184r 1848 
31,465j22,14r31,9r0l9,rGU 
13.6.57110,183 9,07120.921 



In October, 1845, the Cooper Female Academy was opened, 
under the direction of E. E. Barney. The building is a sub- 
stantial brick edifice, 80 feet by 54, and four stories high. It 
has at present eight teachers and about a hundred and fifty pu- 
pils. The educational statistics of the city arc given in the 
following 

Tabular Stutement. 

Showing the principal schools of Dayton, the names of 'he 

4 



38 



HISTORY OF 



Principals, the number of assistant teachers, the number of 
scholars, and the average attendance. 



Name. 

Cooper Female Acad.,* 
Dayton Academy, 

Dayton Literary Inst.,t 
Sisters of Notre-Dame, 

Puhlic Schools. X 
North-Western, 
North-Eastern, 
South-Eastern, 
South- Western, 
German. 



Principal. 

E. E. Barney, 
M. G. Williams, 
W. N. Edwards, t 
Rob't. Stevenson, 5 



No. 
Ass'ts. 


No. 
Scholars 


Av. 

AU'd'ce 


7 


150 


150 


5 


70 


70 


1 


50 


50 




70 


60 


4 


251 


179 


5 


345 


233 


5 


321 


208 


5 


333 


217 


1 


143 


92 



Wm. Butterfield, 

James Campbell, 

G. VV. Parkins, 

Charles Rogers, 
iVVm. Gemain, 
* Opened October, 1845. t Instituted in 1848. J These schools 
are maintained by the city, at an expense of from $5,500 to 
$6,000 a year. Vocal music is taught in all as a branch of edu- 
cation. The educational year commences in October, and, with 
a short vacation at the holidays, continues for nine months. 

The alacrity with which the citizens of Dayton volunteered 
for the defence of the frontier in 1812, was almost equalled by 
that which they evinced in the late contest with Mexico. Im- 
mediately following the declaration of war, was a requisition for 
thirty companies, three regiments, of infantry, made by the War 
Department on Ohio. Gov. Bartley accordingly issued his proc- 
lamation, on the 20th of May, appealing to the courage and pat- 
riotism of the State to render promptly the required aid, and be- 
seeching her sons to seize the opportunity of devoting them- 
selves to the cause of their country. An intense excitement was 
manifested upon the publication of that proclamation throughout 
Ohio; and at no point was it greater than at Dayton. On the 
day of its arrival, a public meeting was called by the military 
gentlemen of the city, at the head of whom was Gen. Adam 
Speice, the brigadier of the county. Long before the hour 
arrived, an immense concourse of citizens, with drums, banners, 
cheerings and songs, gathered round the City Hall, where they 
were addressed by Major, then Captain, Giddings, Capts. 
Walker and Hormel, and Lieuts. Tilton, Stout and Love. Two 
companies, of one hundred and fifty men, were soon after organ- 



DAYTOX. 39 

izeil, under the commaml of Capts. Giddings and Hormel, and 
dispatched to the seat of war. During the progress of their en- 
rollment, the business of the city was almost entirely suspended, 
and nothing was thought or talked of but the army and the war- 
Funds were collected for the support of the families of those 
volunteers, whose absence in the service would cause suft'ering 
and want at home. Hundreds of private individuals also gen- 
erously contributeil those comforts to the soldiers, which the 
government cither did not furnish, or was slow to supply. In 
the course of the war, other companies were successively en- 
rolled, until the whole number of volunteers and regulars sent by 
Dayton to Mexico amounted to more than 600 men. The princi" 
pal companies were at Monterey, at the capture of that city, and 
upon Taylor's advancing upon Saltillo, were left to garrison the 
town; where Major Giddings. in the exercise of both his pro- 
fessions as a soldier and a lawyer, acted as military command- 
ant of the place and as Chief Justice of Monterey. 

At the conclusion of the war, the shattered remnants of these 
companies, whose ranks had been greatly thinned by the ravages 
of disease and the misfortunes of war, returned to Dayton, June 
28th, 18-17, where they were warmly welcomed, nearly the whole 
city turning out to receive them. 

I have now to do an act of justice to Dayton, by stating tiie 
extent of the Hood here, on the second of January, 1847. It has 
been so grossly exaggerated, that I have thought it worth while 
to give, in the accompanying diagram, an exact representation 
of that portion of the town plat, west of the Canal Basin, which 
was inundated. The submerged portions of it are inaiked in 
black. From this it will be seen, that not one-fifth of tlw whole 
town plat was overflowed; and from the levelness of the ground. 
every one, who has seen Dayton, will observe, that on much of 
that wlijch was covered, the water could not have been more 
than a few inches in depth. 

The river had been lisiiig for seveial days; and on the l>t. the 
principal merchants, along the Canal liasin, thought it prudent 
to raise their goods to the second story, in anticipation of any 
accident that might happen to the levee, which was then new 
and not yet settled. A few minutes after midnight, the insig- 
nificant outer levee, that had for years been neglected and weak- 
ened by earth being hauled from it to fill up house yards and 



HISTORY OF 




lood ul Davloii, Jan, i, l>il7, 



DAYTON. 4 1 

roads, gave way, near Bridge Street, and the inner levee, being 
insufficient to withstand the torrent suddenly rushing upon it. 
and rising in a breast two feet above it, soon after fell in. A 
breach once made, the waters rose rapidly, filling the cellars and 
covering the ground floors of houses in the vicinity. At one 
o'clock the church bells rang an alarm. A crowd of men with 
boats and on horseback, promptly turned out to rescue those 
who lived in the low grounds, west of Perry Street; while oth- 
ers assembled on the levee, north of Mill Street, with shovels, 
to check the leakage there. The water had by this time risen 
nearly to tlie top of the bank ; and the work was soon abandoned 
as hopeless. A small party passed dowti Kenton, St. Clair, and 
Stone Streets, rousing the inhabitants along the line of the Ba- 
sin, and advising them to move their valuables into the second 
story of their houses. The levee gave way near the head of Mill 
Street, about two o'clock, and the water, rushing down the 
canal basin, gradually rose to the level exhibited on the dia- 
gram, which is taken from a map, made by John AV. VanCleve, 
from personal observation, at the time. 

h\ the course of the night, all the principal citizens opened 
their houses, lighted fires, and offered accommodations to those 
whom the water had temporarily rendered houseless. The Coun- 
cil, on the next day, voted a handsome appropriation to relieve 
the wants ot the destitute. 

It was a bright moonlight night, and the air was calm and mild. 
There was not a life lost, nor endangered, nor did any accident 
happen, during that night, nor afterwards. In striking contrast 
with the truth, it was represented abroad that one hundred and 
fifty persons, at least, were drowned ; that the poor shivering 
survivors were huddled together on the high grounds, waiting 
their fate in agony; that people were rescued in boats from the 
third stories of some of the highest buildings in^own; and that 
Dayton was literally in ruins! The damage was moderately es- 
timated at a million and a half— a. sum, by the way, equal to half 
of all t!»e personal properly in Montgomery County. 

From the most accurate information that could be collected, 
the loss sustained by private imlividuals in Dayton could not 
have exceeded S5,000 ; and that was made up principally in the 
inconvenience occasioned by the wetting of carpets, the spoil- 
ing of such family stores as happened to be left in the cellars. 

4* 



i'Z ifioTORV or 

the damag-e to fences from floating drift vrood, and to yards by 
being washed by the torrent, &c. If engineers had quietly 
staked oft' the limits to which the waters rose, and slowly let 
them in upon tiie town to that height, for some public design, it 
is extremely doubtful whether it would have excited sufficient 
attention to interrupt, for half a day, the usual course of busi- 
ness. It i& not that which we see, but that which we apprehend 
will come after — evils, bodied forth by the imagination, but 
which never happen — that chiefly excite our terror. 

A levee was soon after constructed, which will completely 
secure the lower parts of town from any such catastrophe for the 
future. 

Among the institutions which reflect the most credit upon the 
intelligence of a people, are its public libraries. They serve not 
only for present amusement and instruction, but are valuable as 
depositories of local information, which would otherwise speedi- 
ly perish. Dayton has boasted of a number of these institutions; 
but none of them attained any importance, or rested upon any 
permanent basis, except the present Dayton Library^ which was 
incorporated, January 21 st, 1847. The charter has provided 
against its dissolution, by a clause vesting the ownership ot it, 
in case of the failure of members, in the city council for the use 
of the city. During two winters, a regular course of lectures, 
one each week, has been delivered before it, at the city hall, in 
the presence of very crowded audiences. Though the expenses 
of these lectures were considerable, the Library has steadily in- 
creased till it numbered in June, 1850, sixteen hundred volumes. 
Actuated by the same liberal spirit which has made our public 
schools the most efficient in the state, the Library Association 
admit minors over the age of fourteen, to the privileges of the 
Library, free of charge. 

That the cralit of supporting this institution, may be hereaf- 
ter given to those to whom it justly belongs, I refer to the list of 
their names, in the Dayton Bulletin of January 2.5th, 1850, upon 
file in the Library. 

Dayton is the seat of justice for Montgomery County. This 
county is 221 miles long from north to south, and 20 miles wifle 
from east to west, including an area of four hundred and fifty 
square miles, and divided into fifteen townships; the boundaries 
tjf which are shown upon the following diagram. 



DAVTON. 



43 




It is ^vell watered anil abounds in null seats. 'I'iie Miami 
flows through it. forming the western i)oundary of Wayne, Mad 
River and Van Buren town.^hips. Mad River, after flowing 
througii the middle of Mad River township, empties into the 
Miami, at Dayton. On the west, the Miami receives three con- 
siderable streams ; the Stillwater, the birundary between Ran- 
dolph and Butler; Wolf Creek, which rises near the middle of 
Clay: and Bear Creek, rising in the nortli western part of Per- 
ry, and flowing through Jelferson. This latter stream is poured 
into the Miami, about half a mile north of Miamisburg. 

Salem, in Randolph township; liittle York and Chamber-i- 
burg, in Butler; Farmersville, in Jackson; Liberty, in J eflci- 



44 



HISTORY OF 



son ; Sutibury, in German ; Bridgeport, on the western bank of 
the Miami, opposite Miamisburg, Alexandersville, on the south- 
ern bank of the same river, and Carroll ton, a mile westward, on 
the Miami, in Miami township; and Woodbourn and Centreville, 
in Washington: are small villages. Germantown, in German 
township, contains five churches, anacademy, a brewery, a wool- 
en factory, and about 1,200 inhabitants. The TVestern Emporhan 
is a weekly gazette, published in this place. Miamisburg, on the 
west bank of the Miami, near the centre of Miami township, 
contains three churches, two of which worship in the German 
language; a high school, twelve stores, a woolen and a cotton 
factory, a grist mill and a foundery. The population is about 
1,100. About a mile and a quarter south east of this town, is the 
next largest Indian mound in all the northern states, being eight 
hundred feet in circumference at the base and sixty-seven feet 
high. 

A comprehensive view of the extent, population, and wealth of 
^he several townships may be seen from the following 
Tabular Statemeut, 

Showing (1.) the area of the several townships in Montgome- 
ry County in square miles ; (2.) the number of acres assessed for 
taxation; (3.) the average value of land per acre; (4.) the 
amount of personal property assessed on the grand levy; (5.) 
the estimated population ; (6.) the number of persons to the square 
mi ! e ; and! (7.) the politics of the townships. 



II- 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 
IX. 
X. 
XI. 
XII. 
XIII. 
XIV. 



Clay, 

Randolph 

Biitler, 

Wayne, 

Perry, 

Madison, 

Harrison, 

Dayton, 

Mad Riv 

Jackson, 

Jefterson, 

Van Bu. 

German, 

Miami, 

Washing. 



1. 


2. 


3. 


36 


22,740 


$13,09 


28 


17,866 


20.96 


36 


22.873 


20. 


21 


14.204 


23. 


SQ 


22,908 


15.20 


36 


22,574 


23.46 


27,^ 


18,522 


0,7. 







2,000 


22.1 


14,597 


— 


36 


23,175 





36 


19,918 


25.70 


25.1 


16,416 


30. 


36 


23,621 


24. 


40 


25,837 


26.37 


S5 


20,402 


22.32 



4. 

$78,016 

112,359 

94,318 

74,429 

97,000 

123,041 

147,252 

1032,737 

132.757 

75,165 

67,565 

81,828 

199,625 

199,767 

139,351 



5. 


6. 


1,800 


50 


2,000 


74 


2.200 


62 


1,300 


62 


2,200 


64 


2,000 


55 


2,200 

* 


98 


1,700 


75 


2,000 


61 


2,000 


61 


1,700 


Q5 


3,900 


108 


5,200 


144 


2,600 


74 



7. 

W\ 

D. 

AV. 

W. 

D. 

D. 

I). 

W. 

W. 

D. 

D. 

D. 

W. 

1). 

W. 



*Rofpiring to the Diao^ram. *Estimatod at 14.000. 



OAVTOy. 45 

A full description of the townsiiips is g^iven in the Dayton 
Bulletin of October 31, 1849, from which the above is condensed. 

It may perhaps be necessary here to remark that the statements 
of value given in all these lables, are based upon the estimates 
made for the purpose of taxation, and thougli property is by law 
required to be listed according to its true value, some allowance 
must be made for the natural depreciation, where every man 
states the value of his own personal property. It is probably not 
too much to say, that from twenty to thirty per cent ought to be 
added to that amount, without at all impeaching the fairness of 
the assessorial estimates. An equal amount, at least, must be 
added for property exempt from taxation; namely, for all cat- 
tle and horses under two years old, all sheep and hogs under six 
months old, all mules under a year and a half old, all other ani- 
mals, poultry, all farming implements, wearing apparel, family 
stores and provisions, state and bank stocks ; household furniture 
and mechanics' tools, not exceeding each $100 in value, besides 
saddles, looms, bees, cash, firearms, cows, sheep, hogs, &c. &.c — 
exemptions whicli will enable any man with a family, to live 
comfortably, freed from all the burdens of the state, and from 
all fear of execution by process of law. If the per centage 
above stated is not too high, it will authorize us to add from a 
million to a million and a third, to the actual value of personal 
property given in these tables. The real estate bcingappraiscd by 
public ofticers, it is assumed that it is put atabout its fair market 
value. 

To the details above given, relative to the several townships, 'a 
brief summary of the chiel items, which constitute the wealth 
of the county, and the increase of that wealth, as indicated by 
the increase of revenue, may here be added. 

The increase df seven millions in the value of taxable proper- 
ly from 1816 to 1847 is merely appareiu. It arose from the 
new mode of taxing property, "according to its real value." This* 
the only true basis of taxation, was esfabli-shetl by the tax law of 
1845. undei- the beneficial operation of which a large amount ot 
property, principally in the hands of those most able, from their 
abundant means, to bear the burdens of the state, and which had 
before escaped taxation, was assessed u])on the grand levy. Thi-. 
strict justice, and wise policy, probably saved the state treasury 
irom, at least, a temporary bankruptcy. 



46 



HISTORY OF 



Tabular Statement, 
Showino' the number of acres, the value of land, the value of 
towns, the value of personal property, money and credits, the 
total value of taxable property, and the total amount of taxes, in 
Montgomery County, from 1845 to 1849, as assessed on the grand 
levy for taxation. 



Year 
1845 
1846 

1847 
1848 
1849 



Acres of 
Laud. 

282,418 
282,533 
285,017 
286,105 



Value of 
Land. 

2,431,394 
2,431,796 
6,749,118 
6,833,802 
6,884,000 



Value of Per. Pro. Mo. 
Towns, and Credits. 

1,094,438 

l,252,80l'l,290,985 
2,860, 053'2,567,947 
2,966,922|2,603,249 
1 2,636,000 



Total Taxa- 
ble Pro. 

4,434,762 
4,975,582 
12,177,118 
12,403,973 



Total 
Tax. 

$68,780 
71,610 
80,900 
83,175 
90,000 



Some of the principal items of the personal properly making 
up the sum of $2,636,000 given above, are specified in the fol- 
lowing Tabular Statement, 

Showing the number of horses over two years old, the number 
of neat cattle over two years old, the number of sheep over six 
months old, the number of swine over six months old, the amount 
of merchants' stock and of manufacturers' stock, as assessed on- 
ihe grand levy in Montgomery County, from 1846 to 1849. 





l\0. Of 


No of Cat- 


No of Slieep. 


No. of Swiup. 


Merchants' 


Mauufr. 


Year 


Horses. 


tle. 






Stock. 


Stock. 


iftifi 


10,201 
10,342 


14,605 
13,796 


26,911 

27,389 




$296,070* 
432,071 




1847 


37,581 


172,148 


1848 


10,177 


13,863 


25,721 


40,099 


474,824 


157,454 


1849 


9,935 


13,996 


29,010 


34,343 


452,933 


200,604 



*Tliis amount includes manufacturers' stock. 

These statistics may not, at first glance, exhiuit to an inatten- 
tive reader, the actual condition of the county; but if they are 
looked int), it will be seen, that, if the property owned here 
were equally divided among every man, woman and child, with, 
in its limits, each would have more than two hundred ami fifty 
dollars: every family of five persons would have a horse to ride, 
besides a cow, three sheep, with the lambs, and several hogs; 
and that, in addition to these, every thirtieth person would own 
a pleasure carriage. It is well known how just and equitable is 



DAYTOS. At 

the division of estates, under the operation of our law of descents 
and distribution; so (hat the division wliich we have supposed, 
znay not be greatly variant from the trutli. Can anything show 
more forcibly the easy condition of our population, to whom the 
wants that pinch the poor, and plagues that haunt the rich man's 
door, are almost entirely unknown? 

The "dignity of history " thiiiks itself compromised by de- 
scending to minute and apparently trivial details. The reader 
has already seen that no such scruple* Iiavc entered into the 
composition of these pages. Whatever tends to show the condi- 
tion of a people, is a legitimate topic in their history. The num. 
her of marriages, therefore, in the county, may not be uninterest- 
ing. There were in 1842, 318; 1843, 299; in 1844, 360; in 1845, 
340; in 1846, (^0,7; in 1847, 369; in 1848, 435; in 1849, 479. To- 
tal in eight years, 2.958. In 1849, the average number of per" 
sons married to the whole population was one m forty-nine* 

In the spring of 1847, were laid the foundations of the Day- 
ton Court House — the most elegant and costly building of the 
kind in the State of Ohio. It is constructed of a species of com- 
pact, white limestone, which abounds in the vicinity, and which 
is well known from its extensive use, in the building of Canal 
iock»«, the Cincinnati Catholic Cathedral and other buildings, as 
the Dayton Marble. The building is fire proof throughout, and 
is covered with a marble roof. The only wood used in its con- 
struction, is for the inner doors, furniture, and window sashes. 
Rising by a flight of eight marble steps, you reach the broad ter- 
race on which the building is erected, and advancing about six 
paces, you rise, by another fliglit of steps, to the floor of the por- 
tico, nearly on a level with the windows of the second story of 
the buildings on the opposite side of the street. The entrance 
into the main hall, which is thirty-eight feet long and eleven 
wide, is by two massy, ornamented doors of iron, each of which 
is more than two thousand pounds in weight. On the right of 
the Hall, are three rooms, with groined ceilings, \\luch are used 
as the Clerk's OHice — the middle one being the principle biisi- 
ness room. On the left, are the Sherifl[''s and Recorder's Offices. 
The hall leads to the Rotunda, twenty feet in diameter and forty 
two feet high, ornamented by a dome, the eye of which lights tin* 
liall below. Around this rotunda, a circular flight of geomrfri- 
cal stone stairs leads to the gallery of the Court Room, f)n omp 



48 



HISTORY OF 



side, and to the offices of the Treasurer and Auditor of the Coun- 
ty, on the other. 

Immediately in front of the principal entrance, at the west of 
the rotunda, is the Court Room. It is one of the striking effects 
of perfect proportion in architecture to diminish the apparent 
size of a building. For this reason, the stupendous magnitude 
of the grand altar of St. Peter's at Rome, loses half of its effect 
and seems to the casual visitor, too small for the building, until 
he reflects that it is of the same height as the Capitol at Wash- 
ington. Spectators, therefore, who enter the Dayton Court 
Room, for the first time, often remark how small it seems. Yet 
the gallery alone is spacious enough to afford seat for more than 
two hundred persons. 

The room is in an elliptical form, the shorter diaineter being 
forty-two, and the longer fifty-two feet in length. A light gal- 
lery of iron, at the height of sixteen feet from the floor, support- 
ed by brackets and surmounted by an iron railing, surrounds the 
room. The whole is lighted by a handsome dome, the eye of 
which is forty-three feet from the floor. 

The Court Room is ventilated by openings, invisible from 
below, around the eye of the dome. While it was building, 
great fears were entertained that, as in the dome of the Capitol 
at Washington, the reverberation would be so great, that the 
room would be useless for the purpose of a Court. These fears 
were however unfounded. The utility of the building has not 
been sacrificed to a showy appearance, and no room could have 
been constructed, better adapted to the purpose for which this was 
designed. 

The Court House is 127 feet in length by 62 in width, and 
from the terrace to the top of the crowning mould is 44 feet IQ 

inches in height. 

The accompanying fig- 
ure is a correct represen- 
tation of the Court House, 
with the exception of the 
ornamental wall 'of the 
terrace, which has been 
subsequently added. The 
view is taken from the n. 
w. corner of Main autl 
'I'hird Streets. 




DAYTON. 



49 



The estimated cost of this buiUling was $63,000. The actual 
cost has not yet been ascertained; but it will not probably fall 
short of SlOO.tHX). It was finished in the spring of 1850, and 
court was held there, for the fust time, on the 13th of April, in 
the presence of a very crowded audience. 

From the roof, to whicli there is easy access, is a fine view o\ 
the city and environs. 

Radiating from Dayton in every direction go numerous gravel- 
led or macadamised turnpikes, by which the wealth and produce 
of -this rich valley are poured into the city. Some details respect- 
ing them are exhibited in the following 
Tabular Statement, 

Showing the principal turnpikes leading from Dayton, to what 
places, their length, the time of their construction, the cost, and 
the amount of stock owned by the state and by individuals. 



Dayton & Spngfi'd. 
Dayton & Cov'ton. 
Dayton Cen. & Leb 
Dayton Western. 
Great Miami, 
Dayton & Ger'twn. 
Wolf Creek. 
Dayton & Xenia. 
Dayton & Wilni'ton 
Miami & Montgom. 
Mad River Valley. 
Dayton &. Salem.* 



Springfi'd 

(/ovingt'n 

Lebanon. 

Eaton. 

Sharon. 

German'n 

Libty C's 

Xenia. 

Wilm'ton 

Troy. 

Springfi'd 22 

Salem. , 12 



Ltngth orCoDsl'd. 



liU'S. 



22 

26 
23 
18 
38 
14 
14 
15 

18 



1838 
'1837 

1838 
1847 
1849 
1849 
1849 
1842 



118,000 
85,000 



202.000 
lS,0OOt 



34,000 



Stock. 
I luJiviilua! 



$55,450 
31.4€0 
49,557 
66.900 
82,835 



55,450 
39,137 
49.557 
58,106 
57,190 
10,000 



"Chartered ; not yet constructed. tThe stock was sunk before 
the completion of the road, and it was leased to D. Beckel for 
sixteen years in consideration of his finishing it. The Dayton 
and Brant Turnpike to Brant, in Miami County, twelve miles, is 
in progress. 

The distances from Dayton, over these roads, to the principal 
towns along the route, and to Cincinnati, Toledo, and Lafay- 
ette, Indiana, by canal, and to Sandusky by railroad, are given 
in the subjoined table. 

5 



50 



HISTORY OF 



The distances from Dayton, over the roads, and by way of 
Canal, is shown in the following : — 
Irora Dayton to Cincinnati { Dayton to Toledo by Canal 



via Lebanon. \_Miles. 

Centreville, 9 

Lebanon, 13 

Mason, 8 

Sharon, ' 10 

Reading, 3 

Cincinnati, 9 



Packet. 

St. Marys, 

Deep Cut, 

Section Ten, 
40 Junction, 
^'^ 'Detiance, 

Florida, 

Napoleon, 

Damascus, 

Providence, 

.Waterville, 
1" ^Maumee, 

Toledo, 



22 
30 



52 



IMiles. 
8 66 



13 

12 



79 
91 



(Junction, 



ilton. 



Dayton to Cincinnati^ 
via Franklin. 

Miamisburg, 10 

Franklin, 6 

Monroe, 8 

Bethany, 4 

West Chester, 4 

Sharon, 6 

Cincinnati, 12 

Dayton to Cincinnati Via -^^^^gta^te'^Line 

(New Haven, 
^Fort Wayne 
)Port Mahon, 
(Huntingdon, 
\Lagro 

Dayton to Cincinnati by C'ana/)j^^" 

Packet. 

Carrollton, 9 

Miamisburg, 3 

Franklin, 6 

Middletown, 6 

Hamilton, 13 

Lockland, 17 

Cincinnati, 12 



Germantown, 
Middletown, 
Hamilton, 
Cincinnati, 



12 

9 

15 

24 



24 
28 
32 
38 
50 



21 
60 



12 

18 
24 
37 
54 
66 



24 115 

' 9 124 
9 133 
8 141 

8 149 
6 155 

11 166 
6 172 

9 181 



Dayton to Lafayette^ Ind. 
via Canal Packet. 



(Logansport, 

sLockport, 

)Carrolton, 

/Delphi, 

(Lafayette, 



115 

10 125 

8 133 

14 147 

6 153 

17 160 
8 168 

13 171 
21 192 

18 200 
13.213 

6 219 

4 223 

18 241 



Dayton to Wheeling^ Va.^ 
via Columbus. 



Dayton to Toledo by Canal 
Packet. 

Tippecanoe, 15 

Troy, 6 2: 

Piqua, 8 2< 

Lockport, 5 3' 

Newport, 12 

Berlin, 6 

Minster, 3 

Bremen, 3 



Fairfield, 9 

Enon, 7 16. 

Springfield, 7 25 

Vienna, 10 33 

Lafayette, 11 44 

Jefferson, 8 52 

Columbus, 14 66 

-.v., .Zanesville, 54 120 

52 ('-Cambridge, 22 142 

55 <St. Clairsville, 39 181 

58 ^Wheeling, 12 193 



Dayton. 



51 



Dayton to Indianapolis, Ind.^ ; 


) Dayton to Gi 


reenvii 


lie. 






Miles. ) 






Miles. 


Johnsville, 




\2 




Greenville, 




15 39 


West Alexandria, 




6 


18 








Eaton. 




/ 


25 


Dayton to Sandi 


tsky via JRail- 


New Wostvillo, 




10 


35 ( 


' ' road. 






Richmond. Ind., 




6 


41 ( 


Springfield, 




23 


Centoiville, 




6 


47 < 


(Urbana, 




14 37 


Canibiidge, 




10 


57 i 


•West Liberty, 




10 47 


Dublin, 




3 


60 ( 


iBellelontaine, 




8 55 


Lcwisville, 




8 


68 \ 


iKenton, 




20 75 


Knightstown, 




9 


77 ( 


Carev. 




22 97 


Chariot tiJville, 




5 


82 < 


;Tiffin, 




16 113 


Greenfield. 




8 


90 < 


Republic, 
Be levue. 




9 122 


Philadelphia, 




5 


95 1 




17 139 


Cumberland, 




5 


100 ( 


;Sandusky, 




15 144 


Indianapolis, 




10 110 i 








Dayton to G\ 


reenvi 


llle. 


\ 


1 Dayton to 


Sidney, 


Ha^•i^burg■, 




10 


{ 


)V'andalia, 




10 


West Union, 




S 


12 j 


(Troy, 




9 19 


Milton, 




5 


17 < 


JPiqua, 




7 26 


Covington, 




7 


24 < 


•Sitlney, 




12 38 



Post Offices in Montgomery County, 

Showing the townships in which they are situated, the names 
<»f the post masters, and the time of the arrival and departure 
of the mails from Dayton. Where the name of the oflice dif- 
fers from that of the town in which it is situated, the latter is 
added in italics. 

Post-Masters. Time of Arrival 

M. M. Dodds, 10 p. m 
Israel Harris, 5 p. m 
Edm. Green, 5 p. m. 



Wash. 
C. 



Offices. Townships 
Alcxand'v. Mi 
Centre'lle. 
Corwin, 
^irlington. 
Centre. '• 

PhilUpsburg, 
Chambersb. IJ. 
Dayton, 
Farmers'lle, Jac. 
German - 
town, G. 

Harshman- 
ville. M. R. 

Henby, V. B. 
jBeavertoicn, 
Johnsville, P. 
Liberty, Jef. 
Little York, B. 
Miamisbur^ M. 



. (I. 
. d. 
Fri. 



Time of Dep. 

li p. m. d. 
7 a. m. 
7 a. m. 



d. 



J. A. Randa 
A- Speice, 
S. Harry, 



11, 1. 



m. 



d. 
d. 



5 p. 
7 a. 



m. d. 



Jacob Bruner, 

J. Simmons, 
Alex. Dean, 

J. VV. Bee her, 
J. Kuhns, 
P. Opvdyke, 
Geo. Perry, 



8 a. m. d. 
10 p m ex. 



5 p. m 
S. 12 m ex, 



d. 

S. 



5 " 7 a. ni. 

5," Tu t. s.7pinTu t.s 
5 '' Tu Fri. 7am w. s. 
10 p. m, d. n p. m. d. 



52 HISTORY O? 

N. Lebanon P. Henry Grub, 5 p, m. d, 7 a. m. d. 

Pyrmont, " ^ Geo. Reed, '• '• " " 

TaylorsyilleW. S.Sullivan, U p. m. d. 5 p. m. d. 

Marysvilk., 

Union, R. D. Sheets, 5 " Tu F. 7a.m. w.s. 

Vandaha, B. W. Bac^got, H " d. 5 p. m. d. 

W. Baltimore, C. A.Robinson, 5 " Fri, 7 a. ni, \V 

The Western mail arrives at 5 P. M. and departs at 7 A. M. d. 

The Eastern " " " 8 A. M. " " '' 5 P. M. " 

The Northern " " " U P. M. " " " 5 P. M. " 

The Southern, via Lebanon at 5 P. M. " ^' " 8 A. M. " 

" " Franklin at 10 A. M. " " " U P. M. " 

" " Hamilton at 3 P. M. " " ''8A.M. exS 

Xeiiia Mail 9 A. M. " " " 6 P. M. d. 

Montgomery County, during the last ten years, has been the 

scene of the most closely contested elections in Ohio. It has 

for some years been whig, but it remains so only by force of the 

most active electioneering and thorough party organization. 

•T"! - f^,n • „^„ii„>-^"- K^--^ ..^^-o ^-' :t :.^ •*'- - d < ' -.*, 

X nc luiiuvYiiig gciiii^.ncii iiavc icjJtcociii.ci.i ii, tu iii— Olltie leglS* 

lature, during twenty years past. The names of the whigs 
are in small capiials and those of the democrats in Roman. 
The Daytonians are distinguished by an asterisk, [*.] 

1830, Alexander Grimes,* )1838, Peter P. Lowe,* 
William M. Smith,* 1839, Edwin Smith,* 
Died and was succeeded(1840, David Lamme. 

Dec. 7, by J1841, Robert C. Schenck,* 

Henry Stoddard,* ; Silas H. Smith, 

1831, Henry Sheidler, h842, Robert C. Schenck,* 
C. G. Swain,* \1843, Henry S. Gunckle, 

1832, Henry Sheidler, )1844, Henry S. Gunckel, 
William Sawyer, \ W. J. McKinney,* 

1833, George C. Davis,* (1845, Thomas Brown,* 
William Sawyer, ) James F. Hibberd, 

1834, Horace Pease,* (1847, Daniel A. Haynes,* 
William Sawyer, ( Thomas Dodds, 

1835, Fielding Ijowry,* )1848, Luther Giddings,* 

1836, Robert^. Thruston,* / Richard Green,* 

1837, Robert A. Thruston,* (1849, Richard Green,* 

1838, Edwin Smith,* \ John Furnas. 

The political complexion of the several townships of the coun- 
ty and of the wards of the city, during the past ten years, is 
exhibited in the Table of Majorities, on the next page. That 
table, except the last column for 1849, was prepared by J. W. 
Van Cleve, and was originally published in the Dayton Bulletin 
of November 1st, 1848. 



DAYTON. 



53 






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54 HISTORY OF 

The President Judges of the First Judicial Circuit have gener- 
ally been selected from among the members of the Dayton Bar. 
The honorable Francis Dunlevy, of Warren County, has alrea- 
dy been mentioned as the first President Judge. He was suc- 
ceeded by the honorable Joseph H. Crane, of this city, who 
remained upon the bench till elected to Congress, February 1, 
1829. From that period to 1836, the office was held by honora- 
ble George B. Holt, also of Dayton, who, upon the expiration 
of Hon. William L. Helfenstein's term in 1843, was again elected, 
and remained in office till 1850, when he was succeeded by Hon. 
John Beers of Darke County, the present incumbent. 

Tlie city was first lighted by Cruchett's gas, on the 5th of 
February, 1849. 

Nothing, in modern times, has so nearly equalled the horrors 
of that appalling visitation of Heaven, prefigured by the scene, 
upon the opening of the fourth seal in the Revelations of St. 
John, where he saw a pale horse, and his name that sat on him 
was Death, and the Grave followed with him, that desolated ev- 
ery province, every city, and almost every family, of the Roman 
Empire, in the days of Justinian, till, in less than thirty years, 
war, famine, and pestilence had destroyed one-half of the hu- 
man race — as the wide-spread desolation of the Asiatic Chol- 
era. Its ravages through all Asia, Africa, Polynesia, Europe, 
and America, during 1830 — *31, and '32, had not been forgot- 
ten, when the nations heard with deep and visible awe, that it 
was again ragging along the waters of the Nile, and steadily ad- 
vancing through Asia Minor to Europe. During the latter part 
of the summer of 1848, spreading from Cairo to St, Petersburg, 
it desolated the eastern parts of Europe, lingered a few weeks 
in Hamburg, and was thence carried, early in October, to Lon- 
don. The disease made its appearance, as it had done in 1831, 
almost contemporaneously in Sunderland, and in the low lying 
districts below London Bridge. On Saturaay, the 7th, the 
Register General reported that, up to that day, there had been 
thirteen cases. Before the close of the next week, twenty 
deaths from Cholera occurred in Edinburgh, On the first of 
December the Havre Packet, New York., introduced it into 
New York City. It appeared soon after in New Orleans, from 
which place it slowly travelled up the Mississippi. On the 3d 
of January, 1849, some cases were reported in Cincinnati; but 



DAYTON. 5j 

on the 12th, it was thought to be extinct. New York appeareii 
almost entirely to have escaped ; but on the 6th of March, thf 
disease was again introduced into that city, by the ship Liver- 
pool, of Liverpool ; frou\ which time it slowly, but steadily, in- 
creased till August, v^ hen (he deaths numbered ai)out 1,400 a 
week. Towards the last of May, it again appeared in Cincin- 
nati. On the lltii of June, twenty-eight deaths were reported. 
The number of deaths, in that city, during the first week in 
July, was eight hundred. It appeared in Dayton, in the mid- 
dle of June, and continued till about the first of September. 
During that period, business was almost entirely suspended ; 
the markets were deserted, except by a few wagons; and the 
streets almost whitened by the quantity of lime, scattered in 
the gutters. The number of deaths, as near as could be ascer- 
tained, was two hundred and twenty-five. During its contin- 
uance, a board of health, at the head of whom was Hon. George 
B. Holt, and a cholera hospital, under the management of Dr. 
Edmund Smith, were established, and every attention shown to 
the sick and dead that humanity demanded. The report which 
obtained extensively through the country by being copied from 
a Cincinnati paper into the National Intelligencer, that the 
panic occasioned by the disease here had destroyed all the ties 
of social sympathy and family aftection, was altogether untrue, 
and was publicly refuted by the Mayor and the city authorities. 
The most liberal contributions were made in all the churches, 
and from the public treasury, to relieve distress. This fund 
was not exhausted, though liberally disbursed, and the surplus 
was devoted to charitable purpose-?, through the medium of the 
Relief Union of Dayton, which was organized at that time for 
that purpose. 

A similar charity — the Orphan Asylum — has for five or six 
years been struggling into existence, and has now some pro> 
pect of a permanent foundation. A neat brick building, on tin' 
brow of the hill, about a mile south of the C'ourt House, is de 
voted to that purpose. It was used in 1849 for the ciiolera hos- 
pital. 

Dayton is on the natural route of the great chain of railroad-; 
that are destined at an early day to connect the extreme west 
with the Atlantic cities. A glance at the maj) will show tliat 
the nearest way tor western men to those cities is through Terre 



56 HISTORY or 

Haute, Imlianapolis, Dayton, and Columbus; and the comple- 
tion of the several lines of railroads now in progress of con- 
struction and contemplated, will aftbrd a continuous chain from 
St. Louis to all the great commercial cities of the east. The 
surface of the country, level as the palm of one's hand ; the 
plentiful supply of wood and stone for building roads and 
bridges; the large towns upon the line, whose local travel will 
be so lucrative ; and the rich and populous country seeking an 
outlet for its overflowing produce, through which it will pass ; 
all indicate this as the natural and preferable route. 

What has been already done may be briefly stated. The 
Lake Erie and Mad River Railroad terminates here. Over 
this road, there passed during the last year, notwithstanding 
the great decrease of travel occasioned by the cholera, one hun- 
dred and eight thousand people. Much of that travel will, no 
doubt, in future pass through Dayton. By this route, we will 
be, in November, 1850, ten hours from Lake Erie. The road 
follows the beautiful valley of Mad River to Springfield, twen- 
ty-three miles, and thence to Urbana, Tiffin and Sandusky. 

The Dayton and Western Railroad crosses the Miami at Day- 
ton, and proceeds thence, in a straight line, fifteen tiiiles, to the 
Junction^ in the north-western part of Montgomery County. 
From that point, it runs due west to the Indiana State line, 
near Richmond, a distance of twenty-one miles. The portion 
of the road from the Junction west, is nearly a straight line, and 
the whole of it is on a very low grade. When completed in the 
manner contemplated by the Board of Directors, it will be one 
of the best roads ixi the country. A company has been charter- 
ed, by the legislature of Indiana, to construct a road from Terre 
Haute, through Indianapolis, Centreville, and Richmond, Indi- 
ana, to connect with the Dayton and Western Railroad, at the 
State line ; and more than forty miles of that road is now under 
contract for construction, as is also the whole line of the Dayton 
and Western Road ; and the work has so far progressed, that, 
on the first of July, 1850, that portion of it from Dayton to the 
Junction was nearly ready for the superstructure. This road con- 
necting, at this city, with the Lake Erieand Mad River Railroad, 
forms an important link in the groat chain of roads connecting 
St, Louis with the Atlantic cities, extending thus far from the 
western boundary of Indiana to Springfield, Ohio ; at which 



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DAYTOV. 57 

latter point, measures have lately been taken, by the subscription 
of stock, and the organization of a company, to extend it to the 
Capital of Ohio, by a road direct from that place to Columbus. 
The Central R;iilroad of Ohio from Columl)us, througii Newark 
and Zanesville, will connect with the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road at Wheeling. Twenty miles of this last link, between 
Newark and Zanesville, are now under contract, and prepara- 
tions arc being made for letting the remainder ot it. And there 
is no doubt that it will be pushed forward with the zeal which its 
importance demands. These several roads from Terre Haute to 
Wheeling are indentical in interest and purpose, and by their 
harmonious and united action, warrant the confident belief that, 
at no very distant day, the "centre" of the States of Ohio and 
Indiana will enjoy the benefits of a Road, which may emphati- 
cally be denominated the " Central Railroad, " passing, as it 
will, from Wheeling, through Zanesville, Newark, Columbus, 
Springfield, and Dayton, in Ohio, and through Richmond, Cen- 
treville, and Indianapolis, to Terre Haute, on the east bank of 
the Wabash, near the western boundary of Indiana, and embra- 
cing in its route the most populous and wealthy portions of the 
two states. It passes through the Capitals of both of those 
States, and from at least ten points along its line, more than 
that number of roads radiate from, anil cross, it. 

The Greenville and Miami Railroad is now under contract 
and rapidly progressing. Connecting with the Dayton and 
Western Road, at the Junction, fifteen miles north-west from 
Dayton, it proceeds in a straight line nineteen miles to Green- 
ville, the seat of justice for Darke County, in the midst of a 
great grain growing and grazing country, which finds its outlet 
through Dayton. The road is now — July, 1850— graded and 
ready for the superstructure The timber is prepared, and 
measures are in progress for the purchase of the iron. From 
Greenville to the Junction, the load is a perfectly straight line ; 
and in no ])!ace does the grade exceed twenty leet to the mile. 
When till* Dayton and Western Road shall have been finished 
to the Junction, and the Greenville and Miami Road from that 
point to Greenville, the two will present the fact — unprecedent- 
ed, it is believed, in the history of rail-roads— of a continuous 
line thirty-four miles long, with but one curve in i(s wht)le 
length, and the entire line upon a graile not exceeding thirty 



58 HISTORY OF 

feet to the mile, except a short distance where it is between 
thirty-five and forty feet. From the present state of both roads, 
and the zeal with which they are pushed forward, there is th e 
strongest assurance that the road from Dayton to Greenville 
will be in operation early in 1851. 

The DaytOii, Hamilton, and Cincinnati Rail Road, will con- 
nect, at this point, with the Lake Erie and Mad River Rail 
road, the Greenville and Miami, and the Dayton and Western 
Railroads. By this route, when completed, passengers will go 
to Cincinnati, by way of Hatiiilton, in three hours. The road 
lies along the Great Miami River. Engineers are now upon it, 
but they have not yet determined which of three routes they 
will adopt. 

Since the above was in type, intelligence has been received 
that measures are being agitated in Darke County and in In- 
diana, to extend the Greenville and Miami Railroad from 
Greenville to Winchester, Indiana, with a view of taking it 
thence to Logansport, and ultimately to Chicago. 

The Dayton Telegraph Office, at the north-east corner of 
Main and Third Streets, is connected with two of O'Rieiiy's 
lines. The Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louisville line, with of- 
fices at Pittsburg, Steubenville, Wheeling, Zanesville, Colum- 
bus, Springfield, Cincinnati, Lawrenceburg, Madison, and 
Louisville, under the superintendence of J. D, Reid, was open- 
ed at Dayton on the 10th of September, 1847". The Ohio, In- 
diana and Illinois line opened their office at Dayton, on the 7th 
of April, 1848. It connects with Cincinnati, Hamilton, Mid- 
dletown, Germantown, Eaton, Troy, Piqua, the Canal Junction, 
Defiance, Maumee, and Toledo, in Ohio; and with Richmond, 
Cambridge City, Indianapolis, Crawfordsville, Lafayette, Del- 
phi, Logansport, Peru, Wabashtown, Huntington, Fort Wayne, 
lia Porte, Michigan City, Attica, Covington, Perrysville, 
Clinton, Montez.uma, Terre Haute, Vincennes, and Evansville, 
in Indiana; and with Chicago, in Illinois. This line is under 
the superintendence of William J. Delano, who resides in Day- 
ton. At the Dayton office, J. D. Phillips is the local director, 
Isaac H. Kiersted, the manager, and Chester Griswold, the as- 
sistant. Both lines are in successful operation, and afford to 
the city telegraphic facilities equal to those of any other place 



DAYTON. 59 

in ihc west. The rates from Dayton to any of the above named 
places, range from twenty to forty cents for a message of ten 
words, according to the distance. 

For some years previous to November 27, 1848, Dayton had 
been divided into five wards. Upon that day, the Council re- 
districted the city, altering the boundaries of the old wards, 
and erecting a sixth. Accordingto this division, the boundaries 
of the several wards are as follow : 

Tlie First TVard commences on the western bank of the 
Miami, opposite the middle of the Dayton Basin Extension 
Canal ; thence south, along that Canal, to its intersection with 
Third Street; thence east, along the middle of Third Street, to 
tlie corporation line ; thence, with that line, northward to the 
north-east corner of the city limits; thence, with those limits, 
to the place of beginning. 

The Second JVard comprises all that part of the city, which 
lies west of the middle of the Basni Extension Canal, and north 
of tiie middle of Second Street. 

The Third JVard extends from the middle of Second to the 
middle of Fourth Street; and from the middle of the Basin 
Extension Canal, to the west bank of the Miami. 

The Fourth Ward is bounded on the east by the Basin Ex- 
tension Canal from the middle of Fourth Street to its intersec- 
tion with Jefferson Street, and from thence southward, to the 
corporation line, by the middle of Jefferson Street; and includ- 
ing the whole of the south-western portion of the city, west of 
Jefferson and south of Fourth Street. 

The Fifth Ward lies immediately east of the Fourth, between 
Third Street, Wayne Street, and the southern line of the city 
limits. 

The Sixth Jl'ard emhracas that portion of the city south of 
Third Street and East of Wayne. 

Many inquiries were made for the purpose of obtaining in- 
formation, relative to the extent of the manufactures of the city; 
but the data obtained are so unsatisfactory that it is not thought 
necessary to present the results. A few prominent items may 
serve as samples. 

The Oil Mills are the most extensive of any in the West, 
Cincinnati not excepted. They consumed, in 1849, 100,000 
bushels of flax seed, and produced 200,000 gallons of oil, and 



60 HISTORY OF 

2,200 tons of oil cakes. The cakes are shipped to Europe, 
where they are used as feed for cattle. In these mills, are in- 
vested $100,000. They employ forty men, and are capable of 
crushing 200,000 bushels of seed annually, and of producing 
from 375,000 to 400,000 gallons of oil, and 2,400 tons of cake. 
The Cincinnati mills produce only 186,000 gallons of oil, and 
2,000 tons of cake. 

The Dayton Breweries are also extensive. 

The paper mills, with a capital of about $80,000, employ from 
thirty to forty-five hands, in the manufacture of printing, writ- 
ing, and wrapping paper. They consume about five hundred 
tons of rags a year. Their paper is in good repute in the mar- 
ket, and extensively used by publishers. 

About $88,000 are invested in founderies, which give employ- 
ment to about one hundred and twenty men. A shoe last 
and peg factory, with a capital of about $12,000, and employing 
from twenty to thirty men, does an extensive business. The 
manufacture of flax has lately been commenced and promises to 
be successful. These mills, with a present capital of about 
$14,000, are capable of consuming a thousand tons of flax straw 
annually. They give employment to more than twenty men. 
In addition to five machine shops now in operation, there is one 
being erected, which, together with the car manufactory attach- 
ed, will employ a capital of from twenty to thirty thousand dol- 
lars. Of the flour mills, cotton and woolen factories, flooring 
machines, saw mills, gun barrel factory, turning lathes, bobbin 
factory, file making, portable horse powers, burr mill stones, 
capital invested and hands employed by several carriage ma- 
kers, who do a considerable business; and of many other branch- 
es of mechanical industry, no accurate information could be 
collected. 

The amount invested in banking, in the city, is as follows : 

From the report of the Auditor of State, in November, 1849, 
it appears that the Dayton Bank, an independent bank under 
the law of 1845, had notes and bills discounted to the amount 
of $255,253; specie on hand, $89,763; notes of other banks, $29,- 
766; bonds deposited with vhe Treasurer of State, $178,192; 
and that its resources amounted to $603,282. The capital paid 
in was $91,300, and the circulation, $159,952. 

The Dayton Branch of the State Bank of Ohio, had, at the 



DAVTON. 61 

same time, notes and bills discounted to the amount of $298,- 
346; specie on hand, 73.839; notes of other banks, $28,668 ; 
safety fund deposited with the Board of Control, 830,599; and 
resources amounting to $484,457. The capital paid in was 
$180,920, and the circulation, $199,325. 

The principal water power of Dayton is upon the Cooper Hy- 
draulic Basin and the Dayton Hydraulic Company's Basin. The 
former was constructed at iliftcrent periods from 1835 to 1840, 
It is fed by the Miami Canal, and has a fall of twelve feet. — 
With this head, three hundred cubic feet of water per minute 
are suflicient to propel one run of stones. The power in use 
along this basin is equal to twenty-five runs of stones; that at 
the mill of K Thresher &. Co., four permanent, and several 
temporary powers; ;ind that at the South-Western Basin, two 
powers. This latter Basin discliarges 3,600 cubic feet of water 
per minute, under a head of eight feet. At this point, four 
hundred and fifty cubic feet per minute make a power. 

The Dayton Hydraulic Company, by their canal, can com- 
mand the whole of the water of Mad River, with a fall of six- 
teen feet. During two-thirds of the year, this is equal to about 
one hundred powers. Until the actual quantity shall, however, 
have been tested by a year of severe drought, which has not oc- 
curred since the works have been constructexl. they are cautious 
about leasing sucii an amount. Two hundred antl twenty-five 
cubic feet per minute, with a head wf sixteen feet, make a pow- 
er. Thirty of these have been already leased, for the whole 
year, on leases for ninety-nine years, renewable forever. Ten 
more permanent powers could safely be let; and temporary pow- 
ers equal to sixty runs of stones might be furnijhed for two- 
thirds of the year. Beside the power furnished by these Basins, 
there are numerous steam engines employed fur driving ma- 
chiner}'. 

The population of the city is estimated at fourteen thousand. 
In November, 1848, the number of dwellings was 1,887, of 
which 962 were of brick, and 925 frame buildings. 

On page 44, the population «if the sexcral townships of the 
county was estimated in round numbers. 'riie aggregate 
amounts to 46,800. For the piirp(tscs of that table, this is suf- 
ficiently a.'curale ; it boin.'T dilRcult to apportion the fractio'is 
amotu' (lu- fiftciii distiicis I think, however, that the census 



62 HISTORY OF 

of this year will show that that is a little above the actual num- 
bers. I estimate it at 46,400; others at 46,550, which is an av- 
erage of more than one hundred and three persons to the square 
mile. 

Dayton is in latitude 39° 47\ and in longitude west from 
Washington, 7° 6\ This parallel of latitude passes through the 
centre of Spain, southern Italy, northern Greece, and Asia Mi 
nor. In regard to climatology, there are j'et no sufficient data 
upon which to form a correct estimate. The mean temperature 
of the year may, however, be set down as not far from 53.78 
Fahrenheit. The mean temperature of spring at 54.14; of sum- 
mer, at 72.86; of autumn, 54.86; and of winter, at 32.90. The 
mean temperature of the warmest months does not probably ex- 
ceed 74.30, nor does that of the coldest months fall below 30.20. 
This corresponds very nearly with the climate of the Lombardo- 
Venetian Kingdom. 

Some attempt has been already made to show the wealth of 
the county, by estimates based on the assessorial returns; and 
it has been stated, that at least a million of dollars should be 
added to that amount. No more accurate data than those re- 
turns could be obtained. It may be interesting tp contrast them 
with the fuller statistics afforded by the census of 1840. The 
census now being taken will certainly show that those estimates 
are very moderate, and, it is believed, in most cases, fall short 
of the actual amounts. Ten years ago, the census showed that, 
in that year there was raised in Montgomery County, 365,938 
bushels of wheat, 4,727 of barley, 374,481 of oats, 54,227 of rye, 
3,359 of buckwheat, 814,707 of Indian corn, and 34,098 of pota- 
toes ; total, 1,651,537 bushels. The other agricultural products 
were 53,867 pounds of wool, 237 of hops,, 122,394 of sugar, 1,977 
of waK, 130 of silk cocoons ; 15,734 tons of hay, 57 tons of hemp 
and flax ; and 9,648 cords of wood sold. The value of the pro- 
ducts of the dairy was $27,156, of the orchard, $1,062, of home 
made goods, $22,238; of market gardens, $4,003; and of nurse- 
ries and florists, $1,125. The live stock consisted of 8,896 
horses and mules, 16,245 neat cattle, 29,631 sheep, 39,298 swine, 
and poultry to the value of $9,743. The principal items of the 
domestic commerce were 130 retail stores, with a capital of 
*426.800; two lumber yards, with a capital of g65.000; and 
$78J)00 invested in butchering and packinr;. 



63 



The items ol tin- inanutacturino" iateiest ait' moie numerous 
I'hev are a-; fullow : 



.irticle.s Manitf'd, 
Macliiiiery, 
Marble ami stone, 
firick>^ and lime, 
Woolen cloths, 
Ciirton >.'Ooils, 
Tobacco, 
Hats anil caps. 
Tanneries, sides t'd 
Leather, \ 

Soap, 

Tallow Candles, 
Distilled liquors, 
Rrewed liquors, 
I'ottery ware, S 

MuNJifvl iiistV, 



Value. 

!»i64.000 

47,000 

55,23t; 

5.700 

b22.r>78 

5.500 

ly.ooo 

8.93-2- 
I -48,360 
75,000 lbs. 
55,0001b 
472,406 irals 
261.190 
1.800 
3,200 



als> 



Cap. lav'd 


Men 


Emp'd 
55 
12 
79 


S 1.500 




17 


92,500 




204 


2.000 




4 


7,300 




16 


21,500 




31 


21,900 






5,500 






109,900 




90 



3,000 



5 
4 
69 



J>$567,590 



Carriacres & wagons, 28.437 num'r 35,980 
Barrels of Hour, 70.622 

34 flonritDj mills, j 
11 grist mills, 
56 saw mills, 
2 oil mills, J 

These may serve as sampii's ol die bulk. FerleLt accuracy i.s 
indeed out of the question ; and ev(Mi il it were attainable, the 
ink would scarce be drj' on the censor's liotiks befKre our in 
crease would make a new census necessary. 

A hundred years since, no white man had ever rositled in 
Ohio; and the Shawane(' warrior, as ho paddled his canoe along 
the Miami, half a century a^o, little dreamed that, in fifty 
\ r^ars, this basin would contain the most beautiful city of a p-reat 
• 'ate — the residence ot fifteen thousand people — the seat of a 
idunty more densely populated than Swit/.erland, over whose 
[lastures roamed fourleerj thousand cattle, thirty thousand sliecp. 
.md thirty-five thousand swine. His aiithmetic could not num 
her up the ten millions of dollars which express the value <»f its 
kiiidcd estates; and the hundred and eight thousand peoj)Ii'. 
who, in a year when a terrible pestilence was scoii<.nnir the 
whole country, passed over the I-ake Krie and Mad River I\aM 
lioad. he could have compared to nothiiic^ hot the stars ol tin- 
^Vy fiM ii\ultilude. or thi' countless leaves fd" his native forest. 
And ht'n-, at the termiinis (d" that mad, he woidd have looked 



64 HISTORY OF DAYTON. 

with horror on that terrible engine — that pillar of cloud by day, 
and of fire by night — that flies screaming over the prairies and 
through the woods, in whose solitudes he once stealthily crept 
upon the deer. The wilderness and the solitary place have be- 
come glad in the sunshine of peaceful homes; children play in 
the streets, where the wolf once ravened his prey; and the desert 
rejoices and blossoms as the roce. The Shawnee no longer tells 
of the ancient home of his tribe among the everglades of Flori- 
da. The memory of it has perished, and they are forgotten on 
the banks of the Auglaize. The swelling tide of civilization 
has borne the miserable remnants of that once powerful race be- 
yond the Missouri. Could the future have been unfolded to 
him, and he have seen and heard the dense' smoke of fouaderies 
and breweries; the ringing of anvils and the clangor of machin 
ists ; the hum of flour and of oil mills ; the whirring of planing 
mills and turning lathes; the flying of shuttles in cotton and 
woolen factories; the piles of straw and rags being converted 
into wrapping, printing, and writing paper; the manufactories 
ot ploughs and wagons, horse-powers and railroad cars, pleas- 
ure carriages and threshing machines, and all the endless bustle 
of a manufacturing town — he woiild have been filled with over- 
whelming astonishment. A river turned out of its course by 
the hand of the white man, its bed filled up and overlaid by a 
railroad, might well lead him to despair of checking the progress 
of that race, before which his own has melted away like the 
Spring snow upon the prairies. Standing alone, on the hill at 
Woodland Cemetery, and stretching his view over the city, 
lying in the bosom of a valley, fair "as the garden of the Lord," 
he could find no consolation in beholding prosperity of which he 
<-ould not partake, which was at war with all his modes of 
thought anfl habits of life, and which only boded the total ex- 
titictinn of his people, but in the melancholy reflection, suggest- 
«?d by the dead that lie around him, that in one event the white 
man and the red were alike the victims of an e\orable destiny, 
nvhich seither the refii\einents of civilized life, nor the wilder 
freedom of his wwn. can^^JjiGpn or delay - 

"On;' rointrfffiyliid o'e^S^ikr^ life's idh' dreaming ; 



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